President Trump has instructed a halt to all U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, a decision made just days after he ordered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to leave the White House following an intense confrontation between the two leaders in the Oval Office.
The suspension of aid will remain in effect until Ukrainian leaders can prove their genuine commitment to peace talks, according to a White House source who spoke to The Post.
“The President has been clear that he is focused on peace,” the official remarked. “We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well.”
“We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
The source highlighted that this temporary suspension is directly linked to Zelensky’s actions over the past week.
Trump has given Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the responsibility of enforcing this decision, which will stop the delivery of all U.S. military supplies not yet in Ukraine, including weapons located in Europe that were en route to the war-stricken nation.
“This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause,” a member of the Trump administration clarified to Fox News. “The orders are going out right now.”
This temporary halt in assistance comes as a direct result of Zelensky’s behavior during the previous week, according to the official.
Trump had planned a meeting on Monday with National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to explore the possibility of a freeze, which would place the burden of support on European allies as the primary contributors to Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
“This is going to be part of a larger pivot away from conflicts in Europe and a pivot towards building alliances in Latin America and in the Western Hemisphere,” a White House insider revealed, citing potential beneficiaries of the freeze like Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Argentinian President Javier Milei, and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado Parisca.
The U.S. has been the largest single provider of military aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy’s Ukraine Support Tracker, U.S. financial aid to Ukraine stands at $119 billion, including approximately $64 billion in military support.
In comparison, the European Union has contributed $53 billion in military aid.
The pause could also affect U.S. commitments to Ukraine that began prior to the Trump administration, including a $500 million “presidential drawdown authority” package approved by former President Joe Biden in his final days in office.
This package consisted of air defense missiles, air-to-ground munitions, and equipment to aid Ukraine’s use of F-16 fighter jets, along with various other weapons and ammunition.
Trump has criticized the U.S. for not receiving any reciprocal benefits from Kyiv in return for supporting the war effort.
Tensions between the President and Zelensky reached a breaking point last week when the two leaders, along with Vice President JD Vance, engaged in a heated verbal exchange in the Oval Office.
Trump and Vance both condemned Zelensky as “disrespectful” last Friday for attempting to discuss security guarantees that went beyond a mineral rights deal that was supposed to be finalized later that day.
After the meeting, Zelensky and his Ukrainian delegation were asked to leave the White House, and the mineral agreement was never signed.
Zelensky, however, refused to offer an apology, telling Fox News anchor Bret Baier that he was “not sure that we did something bad” during the meeting.
Trump later stated that his main takeaway from the meeting was that Zelensky’s primary desire was to “fight, fight, fight” against Russia—with increased U.S. support—rather than pursue peace.
On Sunday, Zelensky remarked that “an agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet,” a statement that further infuriated Trump.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S.”
“Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?”
{Matzav.com}