Kyiv vows to hold out as US pauses aid – DW – 03/04/2025

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a US military aid pause was visible at the country’s logistics hub, which transfers weapons and humanitarian aid to neighboring Ukraine.

However, military experts say it could take time for the impact of missing US aid to be felt on the battlefield. 

When US aid was held up for several months last year by Republicans in Congress, the most notable initial impact was a lack of air defenses to shoot down incoming Russian missiles and drones.

Speaking at the press conference in Kyiv, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted the importance of US-made Patriot air defense systems. 

Shmyhal said there were risks over repairs, maintenance and ammunition supplies for the Patriots, which are the only system capable of repelling Russian ballistic missile attacks.

An aide to Zelenskyy, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that Ukraine has already experienced prolonged suspensions of US military aid programs and has learned to adapt to such situations.

“Some solutions can be found on commercial markets. We are discussing options with our European partners. And, of course, we are not overlooking the possibility of negotiations with our American counterparts,” he wrote on X.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his country would do everything necessary to withstand a full-scale Russian invasion, despite Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US military aid.
      
“We will do everything to hold out,” he told journalists at a press conference in Kyiv.

He also said that Ukraine’s military has the means to maintain the situation on the front line with Russian forces, but Kyiv will continue to work with Washington.

“We will continue to work with the US through all available channels in a calm manner,” Shmyhal stressed.

He also added that Ukraine was ready to sign a planned deal on extracting strategically important minerals with the US “at any time.”

Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski said Trump made the decision to suspend aid to Ukraine without consulting allies.

“This is a very important decision, and the situation is very serious,” Pawel Wronski told reporters.

“This sentence may sound banal, but it has great political significance — it (the decision) was made without any information, or consultation, neither with NATO allies, nor with the Ramstein group, which is involved in supporting Ukraine in its fight,” he added.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X that a sovereign, pro-Western Ukraine that can defend itself means a stronger and safer Poland.

The Kremlin has welcomed reports of the suspension of US military aid to Ukraine.

“The details remain to be seen, but if it is true, it is a decision that can actually push the Kyiv regime toward a peace process,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

“It is obvious that the United States has been the main supplier of this war so far. If the United States stops being [an arms supplier] or suspends these supplies, it will probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace,” he added.

Peskov also said that any normalization of relations with the with the United States would require the lifting of sanctions against against Moscow.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented a plan to “rearm Europe” that could “mobilize close to €800 billion ($841.4 billion) for a safe and resilient Europe.” 

According to von der Leyen, the plan will also help provide “immediate” military support for Ukraine.

Von der Leyen stressed the need to boost Europe’s defense capabilities following the London summit where European leaders gathered for Ukraine talks.

A Russian drone strike injured four people and damaged energy infrastructure in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, causing power outages in the city and knocking out heating systems.

“A strike has damaged energy infrastructure,” regional Governor Oleh Kiper said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. “There are power cuts now in parts of the city.”

Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov said two injured people were hospitalized. The attack also damaged several apartment buildings and two private kindergartens.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said it shot down 65 out of 99 drones launched by Russia overnight.

Another 32 drones were “lost” and did not reach their targets, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures, the military added.

US President Donald Trump’s administration is temporarily suspending US military aid to Ukraine, according to White House officials.

Trump has made it unmistakably clear that his focus is on peace, the officials said.

The New York Times reported that aid would resume once Trump determined that Ukraine was committed to peace negotiations with Russia.

The suspension is effective immediately and affects more than $1 billion (€950 million) worth of weapons and ammunition already ordered or in the process of being delivered, according to the report. 

During his campaign, Trump questioned the need for US aid to Ukraine. And after a tense exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Friday, he openly threatened to withdraw all US assistance.

Political commentator Ethan Bearman says Trump’s decision to pause military aid to Ukraine marks a “new era” in US policy. 

The US decision to freeze aid to Ukraine strengthens Russia’s position and makes peace harder to achieve, said Benjamin Haddad, France’s junior minister for Europe.

“Fundamentally, if you want peace, does a decision to suspend arms to Ukraine reinforce peace or does it make it more distant? It makes it more distant, because it only strengthens the hand of the aggressor on the ground, which is Russia,” Haddad told broadcaster France 2.

The White House confirmed Monday that US President Donald Trump’s administration is temporarily suspending US military aid to Ukraine.

The move comes just days after Trump clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

US Vice President JD Vance called for Washington and Kyiv to sign a rare minerals deal, arguing it would enhance Ukraine’s security.

“If you want real security guarantees, if you want to actually ensure that Vladimir Putin does not invade Ukraine again, the very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine,” Vance said in the interview for the Fox News broadcaster.

A Ukrainian delegation left the White House on Friday before the agreement could be signed after US President Donald Trump had a public spat with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

While speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Zelenskyy had insisted that US “security guarantees” were necessary for any ceasefire deal with Russia to hold.

In the Monday interview, Vance argued that the minerals deal showed to Ukrainians that the US had a “long-term investment” in Ukraine.

“That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years,” Vance said.

The UK and France have suggested that they could send contingents as part of a European peacekeeping force to uphold a ceasefire in Ukraine. Moscow has flat out rejected the presence of any European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.

Vance argued that Zelenskyy had not shown a “willingness to engage” the US in talks, but added that the “door is open” if the Ukrainian president is willing to “talk peace.”

“it’s important for Zelenskyy and Putin to come to the negotiating table,” he stressed.

He said that European states needed to be “realistic” on the likely outcome of the war.

US President Donald Trump on Monday ordered a pause in military aid to Kyiv.

The temporary suspension comes just days after Trump clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House.

Multiple news agencies cited an unnamed White House official as saying that the US was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution” to the war with Russia.

Trump has repeatedly called for an end to the war in Ukraine and for Kyiv to give the US access to rare minerals in order to pay Washington back for its support.

Earlier on Monday, Trump criticized Zelenskyy for suggesting that the end of the war was still likely “very, very far away.”

Trump said that the remarks were “the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!”