US halts shipments of air defense missiles, munitions to Ukraine

The Trump administration is pausing some weapons shipments to Ukraine including air defense missiles following a review of military spending and American support to foreign countries a senior White House official told CNNDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed off on the review which the official noted had been underway for months It was not immediately clear if military support provided to other countries would be affectedWhite House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the decision was made to put Americas interests firstThe decision to halt some weapons transfers to Ukraine comes after President Volodymyr Zelensky pleaded with Western allies to bolster its aerial defenses after intensifying Russian airborne attacks CNN reportedRussia has in recent weeks launched nearnightly air attacks on Ukraine involving hundreds of drones and missiles On Sunday the Ukrainian military said a pilot was killed after his F16 fighter jet crashed during a Russian aerial assaultFollowing the attack Zelensky said on social media Ukraine is ready to buy American systems to strengthen its air defensesThe US has been the biggest single donor of military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its fullscale invasion in 2022 supplying Ukraine with air defense systems drones rocket launchers radars tanks and antiarmor weapons leading to concerns over dwindling US stockpilesBut the balance of aid to Ukraine has changed significantly since Trump returned to power casting doubt over the future of US support for KyivIn April Europe surpassed the US in total military aid to Ukraine for the first time with its contribution equaling 72 billion Euros 849 billion compared with the USs 65 billion Euros 766 billion according to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy a German think tank that closely tracks wartime aid to UkraineThe shift came after Trump halted all shipments of military aid to Ukraine following a heated Oval Office argument with Zelensky in March Trump resumed aid flows to Ukraine about a week laterLast week during the NATO summit in The Hague US President Donald Trump suggested Kyiv may see future Patriot missile system deliveries from the US signaling a possible shift in his thinking about US aid flows to Kyiv CNN reportedThe Patriots are widely considered among the best air defense systems particularly in protecting against advanced hypersonic and ballistic missilesUkraine is known to have roughly half a dozen of the USmade Patriot air defense systems which play a crucial role in its air defense protecting millions of civilians from Russian missilesBut Kyiv is at risk of running out of missiles for these systemsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever