US halts some weapons shipments to Ukraine, White House says
Air defence missiles and precision munitions would be among the weapons affected, according to the Reuters news agency. A US official said the move was over concerns about U.S. military stockpiles falling too low, the BBC's US media partner CBS News has reported.The Department of Defense "continues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine... At the same time, the Department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces' readiness for Administration defense priorities," Elbridge Colby, the US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, said."The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned - just ask Iran," Kelly added, referring to US strikes at three Iranian nuclear sites last month.The decision comes shortly after US President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at the Nato summit in the Netherlands last week.Trump said US officials "are going to see if we can make some of them available" when asked about providing extra Patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine. Referring to his conversation with Zelensky, Trump said: "We had a little rough sometimes, but he couldn't have been nicer."The two had a heated confrontation in the Oval Office in March this year. Afterwards, Trump said he was pausing military aid to Ukraine that had been earmarked by the previous Biden administration. It also said it would pause intelligence sharing with Ukraine.Both pauses were subsequently lifted.In late April, the US and Ukraine signed a deal that would give the US access to Ukraine's mineral reserves in exchange for military assistance.The US military aid suspension comes as Russia stepped up its war against Ukraine. Over the weekend, Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war, using more than 500 different types of weapons, including drones, ballistic and cruise missiles.On Tuesday, three people were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a Russian factory in Izhevsk, more than 1,000km (620 miles) from the border with Ukraine.Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014.
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The Independent
30 minutes ago
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an hour ago
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