US halts some weapons shipments to Ukraine as Russian attacks intensify

The United States has paused certain weapons deliveries to Ukraine, the White House announced Tuesday, as Russia’s war on the country intensifies.

The decision was made “to put America’s interests first,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly, citing a Department of Defense review of US “military support and assistance to other countries.”

While the US has provided tens of billions of dollars in aid to Kyiv since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, concerns have grown within the Trump administration about declining US military stockpiles.

Kelly did not specify which shipments would be delayed, and Ukrainian officials have yet to respond publicly. However, Reuters reported that air defense missiles and precision munitions are among the weapons impacted.

Elbridge Colby, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, said the Department of Defense “continues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine.”

At the same time, Colby added, “the Department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving US forces’ readiness for Administration defense priorities.”

A US official told CBS News, the BBC’s American media partner, that the move stems from concern over the risk of US stockpiles becoming too depleted.

“The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned – just ask Iran,” Kelly said, referencing recent US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites.

The announcement comes days after US President Donald Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the NATO summit in the Netherlands.

Asked by the BBC about sending more Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, Trump replied, “We are going to see if we can make some of them available.”

Reflecting on his talks with Zelensky, Trump said, “We had a little rough sometimes, but he couldn’t have been nicer.”

The two leaders had a tense meeting in the Oval Office in March, after which Trump temporarily paused military aid to Ukraine that had been previously approved by the Biden administration. Intelligence sharing with Kyiv was also briefly suspended, though both actions were later reversed.

In late April, the US and Ukraine signed a deal giving America access to Ukrainian mineral reserves in return for continued military assistance.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continue. On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in over two-and-a-half years. According to Macron’s office, the two leaders spoke for more than two hours, with the French president urging a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Putin responded by blaming the West, with the Kremlin saying the Russian leader told Macron that Western nations had “for many years ignored Russia’s security interests” and “created an anti-Russian bridgehead in Ukraine.”

The US decision comes amid a sharp escalation in hostilities. Over the weekend, Russia launched one of the largest aerial assaults since the war began, deploying over 500 weapons — including drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles — against Ukrainian targets.

On Tuesday, three people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian factory in Izhevsk, a city more than 1,000 km (620 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Russia currently controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.

(BBC)

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