U.S. Halts Key Weapons for Ukraine in New Sign of Weakening Support for Kyiv

Hindustan Times

11 hours ago

WASHINGTON—The U.S. has stopped the delivery of air-defense interceptors and other weapons intended for Ukraine and is using them instead to beef up Pentagon stocks, a Trump administration official and two congressional aides said Tuesday.
The U.S. move to withhold arms deliveries earmarked for Ukraine reflects the Trump administration's slackening commitment to aiding Kyiv in its defense against Russia. Administration officials have stressed the need to focus more on the longer-term threats from China and, more immediately, military needs in the Middle East.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said 'this decision was made to put America's interests first' following a Pentagon review of U.S. military assistance.
The shipments were in Poland when they were being halted and included Patriot air-defense interceptors, air-to-air missiles, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and surface-to-surface rockets, artillery rounds, and Stinger surface-to-air missiles.
Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy at the Pentagon, didn't address the decision to halt weapons shipments to Ukraine, but said the Defense Department would provide President Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine that are 'consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.'
'The department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces' readiness for administration defense priorities,' he said.
Ukrainian servicemen walk past a Patriot air-defense system at an undisclosed area.
The White House move puzzled some analysts, who noted that Trump had said at the NATO summit last week that he would consider selling Patriot air-defense weapons to Kyiv.
'They do want to have the antimissile missiles, as they call the Patriots, and we're going to see if we can make some available,' Trump said in response to a question from a Ukrainian reporter. 'They are very hard to get.'
Ukraine's political and military leadership have lauded the Patriot system for its ability to counter the threat from Russian ballistic missiles and are appealing for more of the interceptors.
This is the second time that the Trump administration has redirected weapons intended for Ukraine to U.S. forces.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Pentagon had quietly notified the Congress that special fuzes for rockets that Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones were being allocated to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East.
Congress has appropriated funds for that system so they could be provided to Ukraine. But the Pentagon said it has the authority to keep them for its own use under a provision of an emergency military spending bill passed last year.
The delay in the new shipments, earlier reported by Politico, comes as Moscow has kept up its punishing air attacks against Ukraine.
A Ukrainian serviceman holds a Stinger anti-aircraft missile.
In recent weeks, Trump has called for Russia to rejoin the G-7 and pushed against a congressional measure that would impose sanctions and tariffs on Moscow and its supporters for not ending the war.
However, Trump last week during the NATO press conference said Russian President Vladimir Putin was the 'more difficult' partner in reaching a peace deal after previously blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the continuing conflict.
The Trump administration inherited the authority to send Ukraine as much as $3.85 billion in weapons from the Pentagon's stocks but has held back from doing so. It also hasn't asked Congress for more funding for a separate program, called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, under which money is appropriated so Kyiv can buy weapons from U.S. defense contractors.
Democratic lawmakers blasted the decision to halt the shipments.
'The Pentagon is significantly weakening Ukraine's defense against aerial attacks even as Russia pounds Ukrainian cities night after night, with numerous civilians dead and wounded,' said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The move has also fueled the broader debate over U.S. policy toward Kyiv.
'The Ukrainians are defending themselves, the rest of Europe and U.S. security interests from an aggressive Russia,' said William Taylor, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. 'Denying them Patriot missiles will cost civilian and military lives.'
Dan Caldwell, a former Pentagon official under Trump who is skeptical of continued support for Ukraine, praised the decision to halt the shipments.
'President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are making the right decision to prioritize to our own readiness and force protection over supplying Ukraine in a war where there are no vital American interests at stake,' he said.
Write to Michael R. Gordon at [e-mail] and Alexander Ward at [e-mail]