The Trump administration has suspended US military aid to Ukraine, the White House confirmed Monday. It’s the latest fallout date after a Controversial meetings Squished between President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and President Ukraine’s White House Volodymyr Zelenskyy Fighting in front of the TV camera.
“The president has made it clear that he is focusing on peace,” a White House official told CBS News. “We need our partners to commit to that goal too. We are pausing and reviewing our support to make sure it contributes to the solution.”
The US was the leading supplier of Ukrainian weapons. Dodge the Russian army Three years after the invasion of Russian President Vladimir Putin three years ago. But Trump’s appointment brought a Marked Shifts US policy on conflict, policy with the president Despise Ukraine Russia began due to the war.
Friday’s meeting was left to conflict, with the aim of preceding the signing of the Economic and Mineral Agreement between the US and Ukraine.
Trump told Zelenkie to reach a ceasefire agreement with Russia, or “we’re out,” and Vance accused Ukrainian president of being “disrespectful” after he challenged the vice president’s claim that the war was dragged down due to lack of diplomacy from Ukraine and the Biden administration. The meeting ended abruptly without signing a rare earth mineral trade, with some White House officials on CBS News The future of military aid for Ukraine i doubt it.
Since Trump took office in January, $3.855 billion has been available in the Drawdown Authority for weapons that could be pulled from existing US stockpiles and sent to Ukraine. However, the Trump administration has not packaged any of its aid for a single shipment since January 21, diplomatic sources told CBS News on Monday. Still, there have been shipments of weapons sent to Ukraine since January 20th, which were promised in previous drawdowns by the Biden administration.
$3.85 billion is expenditure authority, not funds allocated to Congress. In other words, it’s up to the White House to decide whether to release the aid. It is also not considered “real money.” This means you can’t spend anywhere else.
Separately, the State Department has around $1.5 billion in Ukraine’s foreign military funding under policy review by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. So far, the Trump Department has only given Egypt; Israel Exemption from FMF support.
After Friday’s meeting, Zelenskyy traveled to London Summit with Europe And Canadian leaders highlighted the importance of Western security assurances as part of an agreement to end the war. He said in Ukraine that peace with Russia is “still very, very far away,” but he thought it would retain ties with Ukraine.
Trump later posted a link to the Associated Press story covering Zelenskyy’s comments, writing, “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not hold back much longer!”
“That’s what I was saying. This guy doesn’t want peace as long as he has American support. Europe frankly said at a meeting with Zelensky that they can’t work without the US – perhaps not a great statement that it was made in terms of a show of strength against Russia,” Trump added.
Trump’s hardened stance on Ukraine ranked several GOP lawmakers.
“I don’t think we should suspend our efforts. It’s Ukrainians who are bleeding. It’s Putin who launched a provocative and unjust attack on the free Democrats and sovereign nations,” Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said Monday.
Before the Trump administration’s announcement on Monday, South Dakota Republican Mike Round, a Republican working for the Armed Services Committee, said of Ukraine, “I just say we have to get back on track.”
“It’s important to work on putting together a mineral agreement and getting a security contract with Ukraine,” the Round told reporters at the Capitol. “They were attacked. Russia is wrong, but we want to find a way to peace. That means someone has to be a mediator. I don’t know if the president wants to be that. We need to give him the opportunity, but Russia is an invader and we have to recognize that.”
Last month, Trump said he had had a “long and extremely productive call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, instructing Rubio and other members of his national security team to “quickly” begin negotiations aimed at ending the war with Russia.
However, Rubio said in February there was a “long road” before peace talks began.
Delegation led by Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov We met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabiaimmediately after these comments, Ukrainian officials were not present. State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said after the meeting Rubio and Lavrov “started working on the path to end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible so that high-level teams are durable, sustainable and accepted by all aspects.”
Eleanor Watson, Jennifer Jacobs and Margaret Brennan
I contributed to this report.
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