Trump pausing U.S. military aid to Ukraine, official says
CBC
U.S. President Donald Trump has paused all military aid to Ukraine following his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week, a White House official said Monday.
"[The] president 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," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The White House had no immediate comment on the scope and amount of aid affected or how long the pause would last. The Pentagon could not provide further details.
Zelenskyy's office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment nor did the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington.
News of the pause was also reported by other major news agencies, including The Associated Press, BBC News and CBS News.
The move comes after Trump upended U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia upon taking office in January, adopting a more conciliatory stance toward Moscow — and after an explosive confrontation with Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday, in which Trump criticized him for being insufficiently grateful for Washington's backing in the war with Russia.
The U.S. president aired further public frustration with Zelenskyy on Monday, via a post on his Truth Social site, slamming comments his Ukrainian counterpart made to suggest that an end to the war may be "very, very far away."
Beyond the friction between the two presidents, Trump has pressed Ukraine to agree to give the U.S. access to its minerals, as a form of what Trump described as "equalization" for aid. So far, Ukraine has not signed any such arrangement, though Trump suggested Monday that a deal to open up Ukraine's minerals to U.S. investment could still be reached despite his frustration with Kyiv.
Earlier Monday, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a former Ukrainian prime minister, spoke to CBC's Power & Politics about the tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy.
He said cutting military aid to Ukraine would be "a clear-cut way" for Trump to put its fate in the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Michael "Mick" Mulroy, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defence, says any halt in aid would hurt Ukraine's battlefield capabilities and could lessen Russia's interest in participating in talks to end the war.
"It could actually extend this war substantially," he told ABC News on Monday. "Russia will have less of an incentive to come back to the table."
Democrats said the pausing of aid to Ukraine was dangerous and ill-advised.
Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, who is co-chair of the Congressional EU Caucus, said the decision "is reckless, indefensible and a direct threat to our national security."
