WASHINGTON -- The U.S. has stopped the delivery of air-defense interceptors and other weapons intended for Ukraine and is using them instead to beef up Pentagon stocks, a Trump administration official and two congressional aides said Tuesday.
The U.S. move to withhold arms deliveries earmarked for Ukraine reflects the Trump administration's commitment to aiding Kyiv. Administration officials have stressed the need to focus more on the longer-term threats from China and, more immediately, military needs in the Middle East.
Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said "this decision was made to put America's interests first" following a Pentagon review of U.S. military assistance.
The shipments were in Poland when they were being halted and included Patriot air-defense interceptors, air-to-air missiles, Hellfire air-to-ground missiles and surface-to-surface rockets, artillery rounds and Stinger surface-to-air missiles.
Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, didn't address the decision to halt weapons shipments to Ukraine but said the Defense Department would provide President Trump with options to continue military aid to Ukraine that are "consistent with his goal of bringing this conflict to an end."
"The department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces' readiness for administration defense priorities," he said. The White House move puzzled some analysts, who noted that Trump had said at the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last week that he would consider selling Patriot air-defense weapons to Kyiv.
"They do want to have the antimissile missiles, as they call the Patriots, and we're going to see if we can make some available," Trump said in response to a question from a Ukrainian reporter. "They are very hard to get."
This is the second time that the Trump administration has redirected weapons intended for Ukraine to U.S. forces.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the Pentagon had quietly notified Congress that special fuzes for rockets that Ukraine uses to shoot down drones were being allocated to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East.” [1]
Zelensky could declare that he cannot do anything without these toys and surrender.
1. U.S. Halts Weapons to Kyiv In Sign of Weakening Support. Gordon, Michael R; Ward, Alexander. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 02 July 2025: A7.
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