US President Donald Trump on Monday directed a “pause” to US assistance to Ukraine after a disastrous Oval Office meeting as he seeks to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in peace talks with Russia.
A White House official said Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal to end the more than three-year war sparked by Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, and wants Zelenskyy “committed” to that goal. The official, on the condition of anonymity, spoke to news agency AP and said that the US was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
Another White House official said the pause will apply to all military equipment not yet inside Ukraine. The pause is a direct response to what Trump views as Zelenskyy’s bad behavior last week, the official said. They noted that a pause could be lifted if Zelenskyy demonstrates new commitment to negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
The pause by the Trump administration freezes shipments to Ukraine, including critical munitions such as anti-tank weapons, thousands of artillery rounds, and rockets.
The pause comes a week after Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a deal during Zelenskyy’s visit last week that would have given the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, in part, to pay back more than $180 billion in aid the US has sent Kyiv since the start of the war.
The signing was scrapped after the leaders’ Oval Office talks went off the rails and White House officials asked Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian delegation to leave.
The long-complicated relationship between the leaders has reached a nadir following the disastrous White House meeting last week in which Trump and US Vice President JD Vance excoriated Zelenskyy for not being sufficiently thankful for US support for Ukraine since Putin ordered the February 2022 invasion.
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