U.S. Hitting Brakes on Flow of Arms to Ukraine

Wall Street Journal MSN ^ | Nancy A. Youssef, Jared Malsin

[marcusmaximus]

The Trump administration has stopped financing new weapons sales to Ukraine and is considering freezing weapons shipments from U.S. stockpiles, moves that threaten Kyiv’s ability to fight at a critical time in its battle against Russian forces, current and former U.S. officials said.

-snip-

Secretary of State Marco Rubio in recent weeks signed a waiver to exempt Ukraine from the ban Trump imposed on foreign assistance, but senior State Department official Peter Marocco hasn’t sent a required letter to the Pentagon to allow the aid to flow to Kyiv, current officials said.

Withholding the letter has resulted in a de facto halt to new weapons deals for Ukraine using the U.S. Foreign Military Financing system, which is managed by the State Department and pays for weapons for some countries, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the situation.

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.

-snip-

There are over $3 billion in funds to draw from existing stockpiles that have been authorized by Congress but not allocated by the administration, the congressional aide said.

[RoosterRedux]

Gingrich said yesterday that they are making promises they can’t keep.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Do you have a URL or not?

Is video of Trump saying it good enough for you?

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

Lightly edited, but one reads further:

But he played down reports that he was considering cutting military aid if Zelensky doesn't agree to a truce.

"I haven't even talked about that right now. I mean, right now, we'll see what happens. A lot of things are happening right now, literally as we speak," Trump said.

The wider message was that Zelensky needed to apologize for the row in what Trump called the "cherished" Oval Office.

"What we need to hear from President Zelensky is that he has regret for what happened," US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told Fox News<.

Source: Trump suggests Zelensky 'won't be around very long' without deal AFP via MSN, 3 March 2025

And...

Trump was asked to confirm reports that he was considering ending military aid to Ukraine but said: “I haven’t even talked about that right now.

“I mean, right now, we’ll see what happens. A lot of things are happening right now as we speak,” he said.

“I mean literally as we speak. I could give you an answer and go back to my office — the beautiful Oval Office — I could go back into the Oval Office and find out that the answer is obsolete.”

Source: Source: Trump says Zelensky should be ‘more appreciative’ Vanguard, 3 March 2025

[packrat35]

I want it to go to zero and stay there forever. I don’t even want to sell them any weapons, even if they get the cash.

Avoid this corrupt cesspool forever.

[griswold3]

Businessman Trump understands that if goods don’t cross borders, troops will.
War is profitable but deadly. Trade is much much cleaner

[packrat35]

All 3 of them together contributed less than 15% of what we gave to Ukraine...

Plenty of gap left to fill.

[Liz]

Ukraine is able to get weapons from the US through several means, including
<><>Foreign Military Financing, which provides loans and grants for nations to buy weapons from US defense companies,
<><>the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the Pentagon to buy weapons for Kyiv but is currently out of funds.

However, Biden’s “presidential drawdown authority,” which allows the Defense Dept
to pull directly from its own stockpiles, has been the most significant tool for arming Ukraine.

[exPBRrat]

More winning.

[House Atreides]

Hmmm… Ukraine will become the 47th Russian oblast when Canada becomes the 51st state.