Ukraine said on Tuesday its forces could hold their own on the battlefield as they fight Russian troops after U.S. President Donald Trump paused military aid to Kyiv in the most dramatic step yet in his pivot towards closer ties with Russia.
Trump has upended U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, culminating in an explosive confrontation at the White House on Friday, when Trump upbraided President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for being insufficiently grateful for Washington’s backing.
“President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace. 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,” a U.S. official said on Monday.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Kyiv still had the wherewithal to supply its troops. “Our military and the government have the capabilities, the tools, let’s say, to maintain the situation on the front line,” he said.
Shmyhal thanked the U.S. and emphasised that Kyiv wanted mutually-beneficial cooperation.
“We will continue to work with the U.S. through all available channels in a calm manner,” he told a press conference. “We only have one plan – to win and to survive. Either we win, or the Plan B will be written by someone else.”
Zelenskiy himself stayed silent over the aid freeze. By mid-afternoon in Kyiv on Tuesday his only public statement was to say he had spoken with Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz, emphasising Berlin’s military and financial aid
“We remember that Germany is the leader in supplying air defense systems to Ukraine and plays a crucial role in ensuring our financial stability,” he said on X after the call.
The Kremlin, for its part, said cutting off military aid to Ukraine was the best possible step towards peace, although it was still waiting to confirm Trump’s move.
Ukraine has relied on U.S. and European military aid to hold off a bigger and better-armed foe throughout three years of warfare that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides and flattened Ukrainian cities.
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Military experts say it could take time for the impact of missing U.S. aid to be felt. When U.S. assistance was held up for several months last year by Republicans in Congress, the most notable initial impact was shortages of air defences to shoot down Russian missiles and drones, though later Ukrainian forces complained of ammunition running low at the front.
“It’s pretty significant, but not nearly as impactful as it would have been earlier in the war because Ukraine is far less dependent on direct U.S. military assistance now,” said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at Carnegie Endowment.
The chart shows the five donors that have allocated the most bilateral aid to Ukraine across sectors between Jan. 24, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2024.
The pause puts more pressure on European allies who have publicly embraced Zelenskiy since the Oval Office blow-up.
Europeans are racing to boost their own military spending and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday unveiled proposals to boost spending on defence in the EU, which she said could mobilise up to 800 billion euros ($840 billion). The EU is holding an emergency summit on Thursday.
(Editor : Oloyede Oworu)
