An employee handles 155 mm shells at Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, visited by Zelensky last September. Photo: AFP
Houston: The Trump administration has suspended part of its military aid to Ukraine, citing concerns over the depletion of US military stockpiles, officials from the White House and the Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday.
In a statement, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, "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."
The move follows rising apprehensions about US munitions reserves reaching critically low levels. Multiple US media outlets, quoting informed sources, reported that a recent evaluation of domestic stockpiles prompted the decision.
Last month, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo calling for a comprehensive review of the country’s munitions inventory. This action was reportedly influenced by the cumulative effect of three years of continued support to Ukraine, as well as recent American strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iran, according to Xinhua news agency.
The review found that stockpiles of certain weapons previously committed to Ukraine had fallen below acceptable levels, media reports noted.
Elbridge Colby, the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, stated that while the Pentagon would continue to offer President Trump a range of options for ongoing support to Ukraine, the department was also reassessing its broader strategy.
“We will continue to provide the president with robust options to support Ukraine in line with his objective of bringing this tragic war to an end,” Colby said. “At the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieve that goal while safeguarding US military readiness for other defence priorities.”
During last week’s NATO summit in The Hague, President Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and later told reporters that Ukraine had expressed strong interest in acquiring US-made Patriot air defence systems.
“They do want to have the anti-missile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots,” Trump said. “And we're going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too.”
He added, “We're supplying them to Israel, and they're very effective — 100 per cent effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.”
Some analysts interpret the suspension of aid as a possible sign that the Trump administration could scale back its support to Ukraine further. Last month, Hegseth notably skipped a key meeting of the international coordination group responsible for military assistance to Ukraine — the first time a US defence secretary has been absent.
Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in February 2022, the United States has supplied Ukraine with more than \$66 billion in weapons and military aid, according to reports.
With IANS inputs