President Donald Trump reportedly suspended all aid to Ukraine on Monday, only days after an Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy escalated into a dispute regarding efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
According to an unnamed senior Defense Department official who spoke to Bloomberg News, the U.S. government would be “pausing all current military aid to Ukraine until Trump determines the country’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace.”
The unnamed source told the outlet that the pause would include “all US military equipment not currently in Ukraine,” including “weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland.”
Meanwhile, a senior Trump administration official pledged to Fox News on Monday that the move was “not a permanent termination of aid” but merely “a pause” and that the orders for the pause were “going out right now.”
The order comes after Trump and Vice President JD Vance openly clashed with Zelenskyy during an Oval Office meeting on Friday.
On Monday, Trump further slammed the Ukrainian leader for claiming that peace with Russia was “very far away,” warning Zelenskyy that America would “not put up with it for much longer.”
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump protested. “It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelensky, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?”
Trump went on to suggest that removing Zelenskyy from power could also be an option.
“I think everybody has to get into a room, so to speak, and we have to make a deal, and the deal can be made very fast,” he said. “If somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long. That person will not be listened to very long.”
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller shredded Zelenskyy’s behavior during a Friday appearance on Fox News with host Jesse Watters.
“I don’t think anybody had any idea that Zelenskyy would be so impertinent, so disrespectful, so insulting to the United States of America,” Miller began.
“Look, this is one of the great moments in the history of American diplomacy, the way that President Trump and JD Vance stood up for American interests in the world stage, the way that President Trump defended Americans after years of being fleeced and abused and taken advantage of and taken for granted, millions of American hearts swelled with overflowing pride today to watch President Trump put Zelenskyy in his place,” he told Waters.
“The only reason that Zelenskyy has a country, that Zelenskyy is in power is because the United States, Americans have suffered economically funding this war now for years. American security has been degraded, our stockpiles depleted, our ability to project power in other regions of the world negatively affected to protect and defend Ukraine,” Miller continued.
“Americans probably don’t even know the true extent of just how much military support on multiple levels and fronts America has provided to Ukraine, and then this man shows up in the Oval Office and lectures us, says we have to do more, says we’re not as good as Europe, says that we need to provide them a forever war guarantee, fight Russia till the end of time,” Miller added.
“No American watching that today says they want to send their sons and daughters to die on behalf of Zelenskyy, and President Trump was clear and firm and principled saying either you’re our partner for peace in ending this war, or we can’t work with you,” he said.
