The Trump administration has threatened to cut off all military aid to Ukraine, pointing to rampant corruption within the Zelensky government as the driving concern, according to a Wall Street Journal report:
Ukraine is able to get weapons from the U.S. through several means, including Foreign Military Financing, which provides loans and grants for nations to buy weapons from U.S. defense companies, and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the Pentagon to buy weapons for Kyiv but is currently out of funds. However, presidential drawdown authority, which allows the Defense Department to pull directly from its own stockpiles, has been the most significant tool for arming Ukraine.
On Monday, the White House is holding a meeting to consider suspending shipments using the drawdown authority, a congressional aide and a second person familiar with the matter said. -WSJ
Zerohedge.com reports: That said, the shutdown of financing new weapons sales began before Friday’s contentious meeting – during which Ukraine and the US were going to sign a framework agreement for a mineral rights deal that would have equated to de-facto boots on the ground, which would have dissuaded Russia from attacking (since the US would have to respond).
Meanwhile, Ukraine has just 90 days of weapons and other supplies to keep fighting Russia at its current pace, according to the report, which suggests that European allies could ‘make up for some of the potential shortfall.’
If the U.S. shutdown persists, Ukraine would lose its supply of some sophisticated weapons, including advanced air-defense systems, surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, navigation systems and long-range rocket artillery. The U.S. is the sole producer of some systems, including Army Tactical Missile Systems or ATACMs, and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars, which give the Ukrainians the ability to strike far behind Russian lines.
Once those U.S. supplies run out, Ukraine’s ability to conduct longer-range strikes, and to protect its own rear positions, would suffer, officials and analysts say.
“Europe can step in to meet a fair amount of Ukraine’s need for artillery ammunition when combined with munitions already shipped by the U.S. early this year,” said Michael Kofmann, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, adding “The challenges will be more visible as we get into summer.“
President Trump moments ago reacted fiercely to fresh statements of Ukrainian President Zelensky, who said that he sees the end of the war with Russia as being “very, very far away.” Zelensky had even added that he expects to keep receiving American support despite last Friday’s blow-up at the White House, wherein VP Vance charged that he is ungrateful.
“I think our relationship (with the U.S.) will continue, because it’s more than an occasional relationship,” Zelensky said late Sunday. “I believe that Ukraine has a strong enough partnership with the United States of America” to keep aid flowing. These were some of the remarks featured in the Associated Press article highlighted in a Truth Social post by Trump on Monday.
Trump warned in response, “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put with it for much longer.” He added in reference to Zelensky that “this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing…”.
This comes amid various unconfirmed reports that Trump will discuss halting military aid to Ukraine in a meeting with key advisors on Monday. Given Trump’s lashing out at Zelensky this morning, this certainly does look accurate.
Here’s also what the NY Times reported Friday:
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine entered the White House for a meeting with President Donald Trump on Friday knowing that the flow of weapons and military hardware from the United States to his country had essentially stopped.
By the time he left, after a televised argument between the two leaders, the situation appeared even more dire.
As the two men met, it had been 50 days since the Pentagon had announced a new package of weapons to Ukraine and the new administration had said little about providing any more.
A Trump administration official said later on Friday that all U.S. aid to Ukraine — including the final shipments of ammunition and equipment authorized and paid for during the Biden administration — could be canceled imminently.
This scenario is clearly getting closer and closer, especially given Zelensky’s continued open defiance, issuing statements critical of the White House while appearing ‘tough’ for the European cameras.
Meanwhile…
Trump’s Director of National Intelligence is also piling on in a fresh interview, highlighting the anti-democratic nature of the Zelensky regime…
And more recent fightin words from Zelensky:
Elon Musk within a couple hours after Trump’s initial post chimed in on X:
