President Donald Trump has announced plans to send more weapons to Ukraine after his own administration took drastic steps to suspend military aid to the country as it battles a Russian invasion.
In a stunning reversal, Trump told reporters during a White House dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu that the U.S. is going to “send some more weapons. We have to.”
“They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now,” he added. “We’re going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily. But they’re getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess.”
Trump’s announcement, later confirmed by the Pentagon, arrived days after the president’s Thursday phone call with Vladimir Putin. Trump expressed frustration at the lack of progress toward a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, and said he was “not happy” with the Russian leader as the conflict drags on after nearly three and a half years.
“He wants to go all the way, just keep killing people, it’s no good,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
The announcement that the U.S. will send more weapons to Ukraine could prove embarrassing for two leading Pentagon figures: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy.
Politico originally reported that the U.S. halted shipments of military weapons and munitions to Ukraine over concerns about dwindling stockpiles. NBC News later reported the move to stop sending military aid to Kyiv was a “unilateral step” taken by Hegseth and based on misleading claims about a shortage of weapons.
In another phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, Trump said he had not signed off on the decision to halt the shipment of U.S. weapons to Kyiv, The Wall Street Journal reported.
On Monday, a statement from chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said, “At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.”
It follows Trump saying on Friday he wasn’t sure if he could end Russia’s war against Ukraine, contradicting his repeated campaign promise to end the conflict in 24 hours.
“I can’t tell you whether or not that’s going to happen,” Trump told reporters.
Hours after the phone call with Trump last week, the Russian president launched 550 drones and missiles against Ukraine. It was the largest single aerial bombardment since Russia’s full-on invasion was launched in 2022.
The Council of Foreign Relations says the U.S. has provided weapons worth tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine, along with other assistance, since February 2022, when Russia launched its invasion of the country.
Ukraine is now the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid, although in March Trump froze all military assistance to Ukraine, before reversing the decision after ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia.
Trump’s willingness to help Ukraine in the war could fracture his cozy relationship with Putin, which Trump has often cited as a reason why he could end the war.
Conversely, it could help further patch up an diplomatic ties with Zelensky after the pair, along with Vice President JD Vance, had an explosive argument in the Oval Office in February over the conflict.
