US halts weapons shipments to Ukraine over fears its stockpiles are too low
www.theguardian.com
Some shipments have been stopped ‘to put America’s interests first’, White House says

The US is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said Tuesday, a setback for the country as it tries to fend off escalating attacks from Russia.

Certain munitions were previously promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration to aid its defences during the more than three-year-old war. The pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump and came after defence department officials scrutinised US stockpiles and raised concerns.

“This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned – just ask Iran.”

  • perestroika@slrpnk.netEnglish
    37·
    2 days ago

    Speculation on my part:

    Patriot stocks may have been really reduced - by defending Israel during Netanyahu’s adventure against Iran (it could have been smarter to tell Netanyahu not to start).

    There is no reason to think that stocks of other weapons (e.g. air to ground missiles, glide bomb units for F-16) have suddenly gone really low. In fact, there is probably a f**kton of them.

    Consequently, I suspect that Trump and Putin have made a deal they failed to disclose: Putin promised to refrain from helping Iran (it was an easy promise, he was really low on supplies). Trump promised in return to refrain from helping Ukraine, which he could have easily helped. At best, he got conned, at worst he got to do what he already wanted.

    I would advise journalists to ask around: “has the US DoD been ordered to alter criteria for determining what is sufficient supply?” If yes, we’re looking at an excuse. If no, we’re looking at inability.

    Both are bad, but inability can be corrected with honest admission and action, Ukraine has a bit of money from other allies to actually buy some US weapons, although they are rushing to make more domestically.

    If it’s not inability but an undercarpet deal, then corrections are bit harder to achieve.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.mlEnglish
      13·
      2 days ago

      Trump implied as much as the article states.

      At the end of last week’s Nato summit, Donald Trump hinted that supplies of Patriot missile interceptors were running down because some had been supplied to Israel, though he suggested he would like to help Kyiv.

      After a meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US president acknowledged that Ukraine did “want to have the anti-missile systems, as they call the Patriots, and we’re going to see if we can make some available”.

      But Trump added: “They’re very hard to get. We need them. We were supplying them to Israel,” implying that supporting Israel in its war with Iran – a priority for the Republican administration – had set back its willingness to help Kyiv.