WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump complained Thursday that the United States provided too many weapons to Ukraine under the previous administration, his first public comments on the pause in some shipments as Russia escalates its latest offensive.
Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a flight to Iowa, Trump said former President Joe Biden “emptied out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.”
Air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons are among those being withheld from Ukraine. The country suffered a new barrage overnight, with warnings of ballistic missiles followed by explosions in Kyiv. The sound of machine gun fire and drone engines could be heard across the capital.
Trump, who also spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, suggested he wasn’t completely cutting off American assistance to Ukraine.
“We’ve given so many weapons,” he said, adding that “we are working with them and trying to help them.”
Trump said he had a “pretty long call” with Putin that “didn’t make any progress” in resolving the war, which the Republican president had promised to swiftly bring to a conclusion.
“I’m not happy about that,” he said.
The Kremlin described the conversation as “frank and constructive” — the sixth publicly disclosed chat between the two leaders since Trump returned to the White House.
While discussing the situation around Iran and in the broader Middle East, Putin emphasized the need to resolve all differences “exclusively by political and diplomatic means,” said Yuri Ushakov, his foreign affairs adviser.
The leaders agreed that Russian and U.S. officials will maintain contact on the issue, he added.
The United States struck three sites in Iran on June 22, inserting itself into Israel’s war aimed at destroying Tehran’s nuclear program.
On the conflict in Ukraine, Ushakov said Trump emphasized his push for a quick halt to the fighting, and Putin voiced Moscow’s readiness to pursue talks with Kyiv, noting the previous rounds in Turkey yielded humanitarian results.
At the same time, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the “root causes” of the conflict, Ushakov said.
“Russia will not back down from these goals,” Ushakov told reporters after the call.
Putin has argued he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to fend off a threat to Russia posed by Ukraine’s push to join NATO and to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine — arguments rejected by Kyiv and its allies. He insisted that any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine abandon its NATO bid and recognize Russia’s territorial gains.
Ushakov said a suspension of some U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine wasn’t discussed in the Trump-Putin call.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he may talk to Trump in the coming days about the suspension.
“I hope that maybe tomorrow, or close days, these days, I will speak about it with President Trump,” he said.
The previous publicly known call between Trump and Putin came June 14, a day after Israel attacked Iran.
The resumed contact between Trump and Putin appeared to reflect their interest in mending U.S.-Russian ties that have plummeted to their lowest point since the Cold War.
Ushakov said the leaders discussed developments in Syria and expressed interest in pursuing bilateral projects in the energy sector and space exploration, during what he described as “frank, businesslike and concrete conversation.”
The Kremlin adviser added that Putin even suggested that the U.S. and Russia could exchange movies promoting “traditional values shared by us and the Trump administration.”
On Tuesday, Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron held their first direct telephone call in almost three years.
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By LISA MASCARO and AAMER MADHANI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons as part of its announced pause to some arms shipments amid U.S. concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said.
The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson on Wednesday said the pause of weapons shipments to Ukraine is part of a review of military assistance to ensure it aligns with U.S. defense priorities.
Sean Parnell declined to specify the types or amounts of weaponry that will be withheld under the halt.
He says the pause does not reflect any concerns about the military’s ability to defend U.S. interests.
“We’re always assessing, you know, our munitions and where we’re sending them,” he told reporters. “We can’t give weapons to everybody all around the world.”
On Tuesday, the details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries were confirmed by a U.S. official and former national security official familiar with the matter. They both requested anonymity to discuss what is are being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details.
The pause includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds.
Elbridge Colby, Defense Department undersecretary for policy, said the decision to halt some weapons comes as Pentagon officials have aimed to provide Trump “with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.”
“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,” Colby added in a statement.
The decision was greeted with some pushback from Republican and Democratic boosters on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., in a letter to Trump on Wednesday requested a briefing from the White House and Pentagon to explain the pause. Fitzpatrick is a co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus.
“We must build up our own defense industrial base here in the U.S. while simultaneously providing the needed assistance to our allies who are defending their freedom from a brutal invading dictator,” the Pennsylvania representative said in a post on X. “To not do both is unacceptable.”
Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur, another co-chair of the Ukraine Caucus, blasted the move that came just days after Russians forces launched one of the biggest air assaults on Ukraine since it launched the war more than three years ago.
“U.S. made air defense systems, including the Patriot platform, are the centerpiece of Ukraine’s defenses against Russian strikes. They work. They save lives every day,” the Ohio Democrat said. “But there are no parallel defensive alternatives for Ukraine if the U.S. stops supplying these vital munitions.”
One of the officials said other weaponry being held up includes the AIM-7 Sparrow — a medium-range radar homing air-to-air missile — as well as shorter-range Stinger missiles and AT-4 grenade launchers.
The Pentagon review that determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged comes just over a week after Trump helped forge a ceasefire between Israel and Iran to end their 12-day conflict.
The U.S. has provided provided air defense support to Israel, Qatar and other Mideast neighbors. It’s unclear if that conflict had any impact on the Trump’s move in Ukraine.
The U.S. deployed air defenses systems as it knocked down an Iranian ballistic missile assault last month launched on the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The retaliatory strike from Tehran against the U.S. military installation came days after Trump ordered a barrage of strikes on three key Iranian nuclear sites.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said Tuesday.
The munitions were previously promised to Ukraine for use during its ongoing war with Russia under the Biden administration. But the pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump.
“This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a (Defense Department) review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran.”
That was a reference to Trump recently ordering U.S. missile strikes against nuclear sites in Iran.
The Pentagon review determined that stocks were too low on some items previously pledged, so pending shipments of some items won’t be sent, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information that has not yet been made public.
To date, the U.S. has provided Ukraine more than $66 billion worth of weapons and military assistance since Russia invaded in February 2022.
Over the course of the war, the U.S. has routinely pressed for allies to provide air defense systems to Ukraine. But many are reluctant to give up the high-tech systems, particularly countries in Eastern Europe that also feel threatened by Russia.
The halt of some weapons comes after Russia launched its biggest combined aerial attack against Ukraine over the weekend, Ukrainian officials said, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts championed by Trump.
The U.S. stoppage was first reported by Politico.
Trump met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit last week and had left open the possibility of sending Kyiv more U.S.-made Patriot air defense missile systems, acknowledging they would help the Ukrainian cause.
“They do want to have the antimissile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots,” Trump said then. “And we’re going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too. We’re supplying them to Israel, and they’re very effective, 100% effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.”
Those comments reflect a change of thinking about providing weapons to Ukraine across the administration in recent months.
In opening remarks at a Senate defense appropriations subcommittee hearing in June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he has moved quickly to quash wasteful programs and redirect funding to Trump’s top objectives.
Hegseth said a negotiated peace between Russia and Ukraine, which has been promoted for months by Trump, makes America look strong, even though Moscow is the aggressor in the conflict. He also said the budget includes hard choices and “reflects the reality that Europe needs to step up more for the defense of its own continent. And President Trump deserves the credit for that.”
The defense secretary said during that testimony that some U.S. security spending for Ukraine is still in the pipeline, but provided no details. Hegseth also acknowledged that funding for Ukraine military assistance -- which has been robust for the past two years -- would be reduced.
“This administration takes a very different view of that conflict,” Hegseth said. “We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation’s interests.”
Last month, Hegseth skipped a meeting of an international group to coordinate military aid to Ukraine that the U.S. created three years ago. Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, formed the group after Russia attacked Ukraine, and Hegseth's absence was the first time the U.S. defense secretary wasn’t in attendance.