Trump says U.S. will 'have to' send Ukraine more weapons so it can defend itself
Comments mark abrupt change in recently stated posture from Pentagon
U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that his country will have to send more weapons to Ukraine so that it can defend itself.
The comments by Trump appeared to be an abrupt change in posture after the Pentagon announced last week that it would hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defence missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that stockpiles have declined too much.
"We have to," Trump told reporters about additional weapons deliveries for Ukraine. "They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now. We're going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily."
Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least 11 civilians and injured more than 80 others, including seven children, officials said Monday.
The move to abruptly pause shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided rockets, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds and weaponry took Ukrainian officials and other allies by surprise. And it came at a difficult moment for Ukraine, which has faced increasing, and more complex, air barrages from Russia.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the paused weapons shipments to Ukraine would resume.
Trump, speaking at the start of a dinner he was hosting for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday evening, vented his growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has struggled to find a resolution to the the brutal war, which he'd claimed as a presidential candidate that he could end within 24 hours.
Trump has threatened, but held off on, imposing new sanctions against Russia's oil industry to try to prod Putin into peace talks.
"I'm not happy with President Putin at all," he said.
Russia launched its full-scale of invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022. The two countries have been in a state of all-out war ever since.
The strain of 3 years of war
Russia fired more than 100 drones at civilian areas of Ukraine overnight, authorities said. Russia recently has intensified its airstrikes on civilian areas after more than three years of war.
In the past week, Russia launched some 1,270 drones, 39 missiles and almost 1,000 powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
Russia's bigger army is also trying hard to break through at some points along the roughly 1,000-kilometre front line, where Ukrainian forces are severely stretched.
The strain of keeping Russia's invasion at bay, the lack of progress in direct peace talks, and last week's halt of some promised U.S. weapons shipments have compelled Ukraine to seek more military help from the U.S. and Europe.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said earlier Monday that the pause in weapons to Ukraine came as part of a "standard review of all weapons and all aid" that the U.S. is providing around the world. "Not just Ukraine."
Leavitt said U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the global review of weapons and aid to ensure that "everything that's going out the door aligns with America's interests."
Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine had signed deals with European allies and a leading U.S. defence company to step up drone production, ensuring Kyiv receives "hundreds of thousands" more this year.
"Air defence is the main thing for protecting life," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Monday.
That includes developing and manufacturing interceptor drones that can stop Russia's long-range Shahed drones, he said.
Drones have been lethal threats to both Ukrainian civilians and soldiers over the course of the war, but Ukraine has also wielded its own army of drones to strike targets along the front line and also deep into Russian territory.
With files from CBC News