The US said it had stopped shipping weapons to Kiev, the White House said, as Russia’s war against Ukraine intensified.
White House spokesman Anna Kelly said on Tuesday that the decision “puts America’s interests first,” following “military support and support for other countries,” which stated that the decision was “put America’s interests first.”
The US has sent hundreds of billions of dollars of military aid to Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The Ukrainian government has not commented on the announcement. US officials did not immediately say which cargo was suspended.
Air defense missiles and precision ammunition are understood to be one of the weapons affected, according to Reuters. Officials told media that the suspension would include the delivery of patriot air defense missiles, precision artillery fire and other missile systems used by Ukraine.
This decision is at a difficult time for Ukraine. With more than 500 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles, Ukraine said it had endured its biggest aerial attack since the start of a full-scale Russian invasion over the weekend.
The Pentagon’s move is based on concerns that U.S. military stockpiles are too low, US officials told CBS News, but Anna Kelly emphasized that “the strength of the U.S. military remains unquestionable – just ask Iran.”
Separately, the US Secretary of Defense for U.S. Policy said in a statement that the Department of Defense “continues to provide the President with a robust option to continue military aid to Ukraine.”
However, he added, “The department is rigorously examining and adapting approaches to achieving this objective, while maintaining the priority of US military administration defense.”
The suspension takes place less than a week after President Donald Trump discussed air defense with Ukrainian Voldimi Zelensky at the NATO summit in the Netherlands.
Trump said US officials would “seek if some of them are available” when asked by the BBC about providing additional patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine.
Referring to his conversation with Zelensky, Trump said: “We had a bit of a rough time from time to time, but he probably wasn’t that good.”
The two had a fierce conflict in their oval office this March. Trump has since said he has suspended military aid to Ukraine, which was allocated by the previous Biden administration. Intelligence sharing with Ukraine has also been suspended.
However, the suspension for both was then lifted.
In late April, the US and Ukraine signed a contract that would allow the US to access Ukrainian mineral reserves in exchange for military aid.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday – for the first time in two and a half years.
They spoke over the phone for more than two hours, Macron’s office added that the French president had sought consultations to encourage a ceasefire in Ukraine and talk about a “solid and lasting settlement of the conflict.”
The Kremlin said it “reminded Macron” that Western policies were due to the war, as Putin “had been “ignoring Russia’s security interests for many years.”
Last month, the longtime Russian leader told a forum in St. Petersburg that he considered the Russians and Ukrainians alone, saying “In that sense, the whole of Ukraine belongs to us.”
Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.
Russia has made slowly shattered progress in Ukraine in recent months, claiming full control of the East Luhansk region this week. It also claims it has seized territory in the southeastern region of Dnipropetrovsk.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine attack killed three people at a Russian weapons production plant in order to build drones and radars at Izhevsk, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from the Ukraine border.