President Donald Trump on Monday directed a “pause” to US assistance to Ukraine after a disastrous Oval Office meeting as Mr Trump seeks to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to engage in peace talks with Russia.
The move comes just days after a disastrous Oval Office meeting in which Mr Trump and vice president JD Vance tore into Mr Zelensky for what they perceived as insufficient gratefulness for the more than 180 billion dollars (£142.2 billion) in military aid the US has sent to Kyiv since Russia invaded three years ago.
A White House official said Mr Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal and wants Mr Zelensky “committed” to that goal.
The official added that the US was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.
The order will remain in effect until Mr Trump determines that Ukraine has demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia, the official said.
The halting of military aid comes some five years after Mr Trump held up congressionally authorised assistance to Ukraine as he sought to pressure Mr Zelensky to launch an investigation into Joe Biden, then a Democratic presidential candidate. The moment led to Mr Trump’s first impeachment.
In the leadup to the 2024 election, Mr Trump vowed a quick end to the war in Ukraine, even once boasting that he could bring a halt to the fighting in one day.
He has shown increasing frustration with Mr Zelensky over the war while simultaneously expressing confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has long admired, can be trusted to keep the peace if a truce is reached.
Mr Trump earlier on Monday criticised Mr Zelensky for suggesting that the end of the war likely “is still very, very far away”.
Mr Zelensky had suggested it would take time to come to an agreement to end the war as he tried to offer a positive take on the US-Ukraine relationship in the aftermath of last week’s White House meeting.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Mr Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, responding to comments Mr Zelensky made late on Sunday to reporters.
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Mr Trump, at a White House event later on Monday, referred to Mr Zelensky’s reported comments and asserted the Ukrainian leader “better not be right about that”.
Mr Zelensky later took to social media in an effort to further explain his thinking. He did not directly refer to Mr Trump’s comments, but underscored that it “is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible”.
“We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns,” Mr Zelensky added. “We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee security.”
Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a deal during Mr Zelensky’s visit last week that would have given the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in part to pay back the US for aid it has sent Kyiv since the start of the war.
The White House had billed such a pact as a way to tighten US-Ukrainian relations in the long term.
Democrats said the pausing of aid to Ukraine was dangerous and ill-advised.
Mr Trump said (Pool via AP)
Democratic representative Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, who is co-chair of the Congressional EU Caucus, said the decision “is reckless, indefensible, and a direct threat to our national security”.
The Biden administration provided Kyiv with more than 66.5 billion dollars (£52.5 billion) in military aid and weapons since the war began.
It had left unspent about 3.85 billion in congressionally authorised funding to send more weapons to Ukraine from existing US stockpiles — a sum that had not been affected by the foreign aid freeze that Mr Trump put in place when he first took office.
Democrat Dan Goldman, who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment inquiry against Mr Trump, said the pausing of aid was “another extortion” of Mr Zelensky.
Mr Trump’s national security adviser said Mr Zelensky’s posture during Friday’s Oval Office talks “put up in the air” whether he is someone the US administration will be able to deal with going forward.
“Is he ready, personally, politically, to move his country towards an end to the fighting?” Mike Waltz said on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom on Monday.
“And can he and will he make the compromises necessary?”
Mr Trump on Monday suggested he has not given up on the economic pact, calling it “a great deal”. He added that he expected to speak to the deal during his Tuesday address before a joint session of Congress.