Donald Trump has halted any aid offered to Ukraine following his unsuccessful meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House
Donald Trump has made the decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine following a tense meeting with the European country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday (28 February).
The US Government announced the order following a meeting between President Trump and senior advisors on Monday (3 March) to discuss the aid and its future.
The decision came after an argument with President Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, in a meeting in front of the media.
Trump accused Zelenskyy of ‘gambling with WW3’, while Russian officials praised the US President’s handling of the situation, even calling Zelenskyy a ‘scumbag’.
A White House official anonymously revealed to Sky News: “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 is contributing to a solution.”
There is currently no set length in place, while Ukraine have yet to respond to the move, as the pause will go into effect immediately.
Zelenskyy had recently claimed that peace was ‘very, very far away’, with Trump calling it ‘the worst statement that could have been made’.
Speaking on his on social media platform, Truth Social, the 47th US President said: “America will not put up with it for much longer!”
“It is what I was saying, this guy [Zelenskyy] doesn’t want there to be peace as long as he has America’s backing,” he claimed.
A second White House official stated to Fox News: “This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause,
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“The orders are going out right now.”
It had been reported by the New York Times that over $1 billion (£787.3 million) in arms and ammunition will be withheld by the US, with Ukraine now forced to deal with private contractors.
The Biden administration provided Kyiv with over $66.5 billion (£52.3 billion) in military aid since the nation’s war with Russia began.
It left around $3.85 billion (£3 billion) in authorised funding that could send more weapons to Ukraine from existing American stockpiles, which has been left unaffected following the foreign aid freeze Trump put on once he was in office.
While Biden stopped the deliveries of deadly bombs to Israel following concerns in Gaza, Trump has made this move to provide an ultimatum to Zelenskyy, who may face huge losses in the war.
While other members of NATO has promised to help Ukraine following the meeting in the White House last week, none of them have the fire power that the US boasts.
Vice President JD Vance has also spoken out against Zelenskyy, calling him entitled and accusing him of ‘needling’ the US President.
Speaking to Fox News, he explained: “He showed a clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that Trump said is the policy,” saying that the meeting ‘really set Zelenskyy off’.
“I really don’t care what President Zelenskyy says about me or anybody else. But he showed a clear unwillingness to engage in the peace process that President Trump has said is the policy of the American people and of their president,” he further claimed.
