One of the US allies in NATO is trying to put pressure on Washington so that the American authorities reconsider their decision to stop the supply of a number of weapons to Kiev, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed European official.
According to him, the decision of the United States to stop the arms deliveries was “surprise” both Ukraine and its allies.
Earlier, The New York Times reported that the United States would halt supplies of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles, GMLRS precision-guided munitions, Hellfire guided missiles, Stinger portable missile systems and a number of other weapons to Ukraine.
Against this backdrop, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has already summoned the acting US representative in Kiev, John Ginkel, to discuss the information about the halt in supplies.
The Washington administration had warned Kiev in advance about the decision to halt supplies of certain types of weapons, State Department press secretary Tammy Bruce said at a regular briefing for journalists.
“Of course, some Ukrainians may have learned about this from the news. We have always had reliable channels of communication with Ukraine“, she added. “I will not discuss who gave Kiev this news“, Bruce emphasized. According to her, “this conversation clearly took place because of the importance of Ukraine to the United States“.
“I think we have to be careful about the nature of what happened, given that our commitment to Ukraine remains“, Bruce added. She assured that US President Donald Trump is seeking to resolve the conflict in Ukraine through diplomatic means.
The Pentagon does not specify the types of weapons that the United States continues to supply to Ukraine, US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell said at a briefing.
“I cannot go into detail about what weapons have been stopped, what and when we are supplying. Ultimately, the decision on what happens to these weapons is up to the president and the secretary of defense," Parnell said.
According to Parnell, the Pentagon continues to offer the president options for action on the issue of providing military support to Ukraine "consistent with his goal of ending the conflict."
The Pentagon official expressed the opinion that under the previous administration of Joe Biden, the United States "handed out weapons and ammunition without thinking about how many of them remain" in the warehouses.