US President Donald Trump ordered a pause to all military aid to Ukraine on Monday. This comes just days after an Oval Office blowup with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left the support of his country’s most important ally in doubt.
The US is pausing all current military aid to Ukraine until Trump determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, Bloomberg reported, quoting a senior Defense Department official who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.
According to the report, all US military equipment not currently in Ukraine would be paused, including weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland.
The reported order comes days after Trump and Zelensky had a very public spat during their meeting at the Oval Office in Washington on Friday. The Ukrainian leader was in the US to sign a minerals deal, but it fell through after he asked for a security guarantee from the Trump administration against a future Russian invasion.
Donald Trump had continued Ukraine’s military aid in January
US secretary of state Marco Rubio announced in January that he would pause foreign aid grants for 90 days, apart from ones going to Israel and Egypt.
In an internal memo, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved.”, AFP reported.
But the military aid to Ukraine had continued to go through even after that order.
Things changed quickly after Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance publically rebuked Zelensky during his White House visit last week. While Vance accused the Ukrainian President of being ‘ungrateful’, Trump accused him of ‘gambling with World War 3.’
Trump has said that he wants the fighting between Ukraine and Russia to end but has been accused of using Kremlin talking points while commenting on the matter. Leaders in Europe have started working on a peace deal that they intend to present to the US.
Article source: hindustantimes.com
