President Trump announced on Monday a pause in the provision of billions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Ukraine β aid that had been promised by former President Biden before he left office. It will affect deliveries of ammunition and other vital supplies as Ukraine fights to defend itself from Russia’s ongoing, three-year full-scale invasion that has seen President Vladimir Putin’s forces occupy roughly 20% of eastern Ukraine.
The aid pause came after Friday’s contentious Oval Office meeting that descended into an unprecedented televised spectacle as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance belittled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accusing him of failing to express sufficient gratitude and disrespecting the U.S. presidency. Β
“The president has been clear that he is focused on peace,” a White House official told CBS News on Monday. “We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”Β Β Β
That reaction by Mr. Trump is a nightmare scenario for Ukraine, and it could have real consequences not only for Zelenskyy’s forces on the ground, but for all of Europe. It was a dramatic ratcheting up of Mr. Trump’s campaign to pile pressure on Zelenskyy to pursue a peace deal with Putin β but on terms that Ukraine has so far deemed untenable, with no offer of a U.S. guarantee to protect Ukraine from future attacks by its much larger, authoritarian neighbor.
The announcement was met with immediate trepidation in Ukraine, but quickly welcomed by Moscow, where Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it “a decision that could actually push the Kyiv regime toward a peace process.”
“It is obvious that, until now, the U.S. has been the main supplier of this war,” Peskov said. “If the U.S. stops that or suspends these supplies, this will probably be the best contribution to [achieving] peace.”
“Ukraine will still fight,” but it needs help
In Ukraine, Mr. Trump’s move sent shockwaves across the war-battered country.
Asked if Ukraine stands a chance of repelling Russia’s invasion without the support of the U.S. and Mr. Trump, Mykhailo Podolyak, a top advisor to Zelenskyy, declined to predict the outcome, but didn’t waiver about Ukraine’s determination to defend its sovereignty.
“What I can say for sure is that Ukraine will still fight. But I will ask you a question,” he told CBS News. “Would [the U.S.] be okay to stay on the sidelines when we need to stop Russian aggression? And what does Russia want to do? It wants to destroy the world that was built by previous American administrations.”
It’s a world President Trump has never signaled clearly that he is willing to defend. But Ukrainian soldiers wounded on the battlefield told CBS News in a military trauma ward in Kyiv, that they are.
Oleksiy, a grandfather and volunteer soldier in his 50s, was being treated for shrapnel wounds to his legs and hips from Russian shelling. He also suffered a war wound to his arm a year ago, but he went back to fight.
“Of course,” he said, when asked if he would continue fighting when he healed, with or without support from Washington. “For the sake of my granddaughter.”
As Ukrainian leaders consider what to do next, they will have to turn increasingly to their partners in Europe, who already provide just over 50% of the military assistance Ukraine receives. European leaders have vowed in recent days to step up that support β dramatically β as Russia’s assault rages on.
Highlighting the importance of that support, Russian forces launched nearly 100 explosive drones at the Ukrainian cities of Sumy and Odessa overnight.
One Ukrainian official told CBS News the country could sustain itself militarily for up to six months without further U.S. military aid, but that would be dependent on the severity of Russian attacks.
Ukraine’s president has warned for years, even before Russia launched its full-scale invasion after insisting for months that it had no intention of doing so, that if Putin is not stopped in his tracks, he will keep pushing to claw back more of the territory Russia lost when the Soviet Union collapsed β and the Russian autocrat has made no secret about his perception of both NATO and Europe as hostile entities.
“We hear his [Trump’s] statement about the desire to bring peace to Ukraine. This can only be welcomed,” Peskov said Tuesday. “But we will continue to watch how the situation develops in reality.”
CBS News’ Sohel Uddin and Emmet Lyons contributed to this report.
