{"id":68521,"date":"2025-07-02T16:51:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=68521"},"modified":"2025-07-02T16:51:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T16:51:44","slug":"ukraine-warns-halt-of-us-weapons-shipments-will-encourage-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=68521","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine warns halt of US weapons shipments will \u2018encourage Russia\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kyiv has warned that an interruption of US weapons shipments might encourage Russia to continue the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday the White House said that it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The decision was taken \u201cto put America\u2019s interests first\u201d following a Department of Defense review of US \u201cmilitary support and assistance to other countries\u201d, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s foreign ministry said in a statement that \u201cany delay or procrastination in supporting Ukraine\u2019s defense capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

It particularly emphasised the need for Kyiv to strengthen its air defences \u2013 as Russia continues to pummel the country with missiles and drones on a near-nightly basis.<\/p>\n

A Kyiv-based US diplomat was invited to the foreign ministry for talks on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

However, Ukraine\u2019s Ministry of Defence said it had not received any official notification from the US about the \u201csuspension or revision\u201d of the weapons deliveries, and urged people not to speculate on the basis of partial information.<\/p>\n

But in a statement the defence ministry also said that the path to ending the war was \u201cthrough consistent and joint pressure on the aggressor\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the weekend Ukraine endured its biggest aerial attack since the start of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, with more than 500 drones and ballistic and cruise missiles launched at its cities.<\/p>\n

US officials did not immediately say which shipments were being halted.<\/p>\n

According to US broadcaster NBC the weapons being delayed could include Patriot interceptors, Howitzer munitions, missiles and grenade launchers.<\/p>\n

The US has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, leading some in the Trump administration to voice concerns that US stockpiles are too low.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin, for its part, welcomed news of the reduction in weapons shipments, saying reducing the flow of weapons to Kyiv will help end the conflict faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fewer the number of weapons that are delivered to Ukraine, the closer the end of the special military operation,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.<\/p>\n

Fedir Venislavskyi, an MP for Ukraine\u2019s ruling party, said the decision was \u201cpainful, and against the background of the terrorist attacks which Russia commits against Ukraine\u2026 it\u2019s a very unpleasant situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian military source quoted by AFP news agency said that Kyiv was \u201cseriously dependent on American arms supplies, although Europe is doing its best, but it will be difficult for us without American ammunition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s European allies have spent billions in military aid over the last three and a half years.<\/p>\n

However, military support for Kyiv is not endorsed by everyone on the political spectrum.<\/p>\n

The Czech President and former Chair of NATO\u2019s Military Committee, Petr Pavel, has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine but told BBC Russian that he could \u201cnot guarantee\u201d continued ammunition support for Kyiv, as that was dependent on the result of the upcoming Czech elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what will be the priorities of a new government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon\u2019s move is based on concerns that US military stockpiles are falling too low, a source told CBS News, although Anna Kelly stressed that \u201cthe strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned \u2013 just ask Iran\u201d.<\/p>\n

Separately, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby said in a statement that the defense department \u201ccontinues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he added \u201cthe Department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving US forces\u2019 readiness for Administration defense priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pause comes less than a week after President Donald Trump discussed air defences with Ukraine\u2019s Volodymyr Zelensky at the Nato summit in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Trump said US officials \u201care going to see if we can make some of them available\u201d when\u00a0asked by the BBC\u00a0about providing extra Patriot anti-missile systems to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Referring to his conversation with Zelensky, Trump said: \u201cWe had a little rough times sometimes, but he couldn\u2019t have been nicer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two had a heated confrontation in the Oval Office in March this year. Afterwards, Trump said he was pausing military aid to Ukraine that had been earmarked by the previous Biden administration. Intelligence sharing with Ukraine was also suspended.<\/p>\n

But both pauses were subsequently lifted.<\/p>\n

In late April, the US and Ukraine signed a deal that would give the US access to Ukraine\u2019s mineral reserves in exchange for military assistance.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday \u2013 the first time in over two-and-a-half years.<\/p>\n

They spoke on the phone for more than two hours, Macron\u2019s office said, adding that the French president had urged a ceasefire in Ukraine and for talks to start on a \u201csolid and lasting settlement of the conflict\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Kremlin said Putin had \u201creminded Macron\u201d that the West\u2019s policy was to blame for the war, because it had \u201cfor many years ignored Russia\u2019s security interests\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last month Russia\u2019s long-time leader told a forum in St Petersburg that he saw Russians and Ukrainians as one people and \u201cin that sense the whole of Ukraine is ours\u201d.<\/p>\n

Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014.<\/p>\n

Russia has made slow, grinding advances in Ukraine in recent months and claimed full control of the eastern Luhansk region this week. It has also claimed to have seized territory in the south eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on Tuesday a Ukrainian attack\u00a0killed three people at a Russian arms production factory\u00a0for making drones and radars in Izhevsk, more than 1,000km (620 miles) from the border with Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Kyiv has warned that an interruption of US weapons shipments might encourage Russia to continue the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year. On Tuesday the White House said… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}