Trump suspends all military aid to Ukraine

The Trump administration has suspended delivery of all US military aid to Ukraine, blocking billions in crucial shipments as the White House piles pressure on Ukraine to sue for peace with Vladimir Putin, the Guardian reports.

The decision affects deliveries of ammunition, vehicles, and other equipment including shipments agreed to when Joe Biden was president.

It comes after a dramatic blow-up in the White House on Friday during which Donald Trump told Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he was “gambling with” a third world war. The Ukrainian president was told to come back “when he is ready for peace”.

A senior administration official told Fox News that “this is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause”. Bloomberg reported that all US military equipment not in Ukraine would be held back, including weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland. It added that Trump had ordered the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, to execute the pause.

The decision followed a White House meeting that included Hegseth and the vice-president, JD Vance, along with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio; the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard; and Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.

“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well,” a White House official told the Washington Post. “We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”

Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said Trump appeared to be pushing Ukraine towards capitulation. “To stop aid now means to help [Russian president Vladimir] Putin,” Merezhko told Reuters. “On the surface, this looks really bad. It looks like he is pushing us towards capitulation, meaning [accepting] Russia’s demands.”