US freezes key Ukraine weapons shipments as Russia intensifies barrages
Advertisement
The White House confirmed a Politico report on the stoppage, which said the move came after a review of US munitions stockpiles and amid concerns they had fallen too low.
Among the weapons that were being paused are 155mm artillery shells, Stinger shoulder-fired missiles, Patriots and Hellfire missiles, PBS Newshour's Nick Schifrin reported.
'This decision was made to put America's interests first following a DOD review of our nation's military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,' White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in an emailed statement confirming the report. 'The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned – just ask Iran.'
A Ukrainian serviceman aims a Stinger anti-aircraft missile. File photo: Reuters
The decision comes as Ukraine struggles to repel large-scale Russian missile and drone strikes across the country.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Why Silicon Valley signing up to nationalism puts Asia on edge
A day before the controversial military parade in Washington celebrating the US Army's 250th anniversary (which, coincidentally, fell on President Donald Trump's 79th birthday), a more discreet yet significant event took place. On June 13, the US Army swore four C-suite technologists into its reserve ranks with the launch of Detachment 201, its executive innovation corps. The newly commissioned lieutenant colonels are Shyam Sankar , Palantir Technologies' chief technology officer; Andrew Bosworth, Meta's chief technology officer; Kevin Weil, OpenAI's chief product officer; and Bob McGrew, Thinking Machines Lab's adviser and formerly OpenAI's chief research officer. Dressed in military fatigues at their oath-taking ceremony, the reserve officers symbolised a fusion of two of the greatest US exports: capitalism and lethality. This merger of the boardroom and the battlefield is not new. In the early 1960s, Dwight Eisenhower cautioned against the rise of the US military-industrial complex even as he recognised the 'imperative need' for it. Since then, US tech dominance – led by the private sector and supported by the government – has only accelerated the inevitability of the military-technology complex in the digital age. But Silicon Valley's attitude towards Washington was not always this eager. The image of libertarian tech elites in the West Coast in the early days of start-ups, along with their ideals of individual autonomy and limited government, is a far cry from the assertive nationalism of US Big Tech now. Alex Karp , CEO of Palantir, a major US defence and security contractor that specialises in commercial data analytics software, has unapologetically championed Western dominance through a combination of hard power and technology. Contemptuous of protests by tech workers against engineering technology for US weapons development, Karp has instead embraced the idea of scaring America's enemies and killing them, if necessary.
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Ukraine strains as Russia ramps up offensives on 2 fronts
An emboldened Russia has ramped up military offensives on two fronts in Ukraine, scattering Kyiv's precious reserve troops and threatening to expand the fighting to a new Ukrainian region as each side seeks an advantage before the fighting season wanes in the autumn. Moscow aims to maximise its territorial gains before seriously considering a full ceasefire, analysts and military commanders have said. Ukraine wants to slow the Russian advance for as long as possible and extract heavy losses. Kremlin forces were steadily gaining ground in the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, the capture of which would hand them a major battlefield victory and bring them closer to acquiring the entire Donetsk region. The fighting there has also brought combat to the border of the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time. In an effort to prevent Moscow from bolstering those positions in the east, Ukrainian forces were trying to pin down some of Russia's best and most battle-hardened troops hundreds of kilometres away, in the northeast Sumy region. Ukrainians build trenches in the Donetsk direction, at an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine. Photo: AFP 'The best-case scenario for Ukraine,' said Russian-British military historian Sergey Radchenko, 'is that they're able to stall or stop the Russian advance' in the Ukrainian industrial heartland known as Donbas, which includes the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Then Ukraine could 'use that as the basis for a ceasefire agreement'.
South China Morning Post
7 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Trump's megabill faces high-stakes US House vote amid divisions
Donald Trump's multitrillion-dollar tax bill was running into resistance in the House as moderate and ultraconservative Republican lawmakers threatened to defy the US president and sink his domestic agenda. House lawmakers were returning to Washington from a holiday week to vote on Wednesday on the Senate version of the bill, which squeaked through that chamber on Vice-President J.D. Vance's tiebreaking vote. The House passed its own version of the measure in May by a one-vote margin. But several Republicans who were strong-armed into voting for that bill were vowing to oppose the Senate-passed measure , putting Trump's self-imposed July 4 deadline at risk. House Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose only three Republican votes in the face of unified Democratic opposition, if all members are present and voting. Republicans Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie, who voted against the bill in May, remain firm no votes. Johnson's No 2, Steve Scalise, projected optimism on Tuesday. 'We're going to get it done tomorrow,' he told reporters. But Congressman Chip Roy, a hardline conservative who balked at the cost of the House's earlier bill but ultimately supported it, said 'a significant number' of lawmakers were concerned about the Senate version of the bill.
