The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense confirmed that all arms deliveries from the US to Ukraine have been stopped, including those promised by former President Joe Biden.
"I cannot share details about the stopped arms deliveries", said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, but clarified: "For four years under Joe Biden, we provided weapons and ammunition without really thinking about what quantities we ourselves had."
A comprehensive inspection would now be carried out. It would go under the motto "America First" because President Trump was elected "to put America first", the Pentagon spokesman added, quoted by ARD.
End of aid to Ukraine?
During the NATO summit last week, Donald Trump said that he had a "very good" meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. But with regard to the "Patriot" air defense systems that Ukraine desperately needs, he emphasized: "It will be difficult to provide them - and we need them," the German public media recalls, noting that these systems are particularly important for Ukraine to repel Russian air strikes.
Does this mean an end to American aid to Ukraine? According to Max Bergman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, yes, such a threat exists.
Trump is playing a cynical game with Ukraine, writes Jake Sullivan in the "New York Times". "In front of the media, he threatens to impose new sanctions on the Russian economy. Behind closed doors, he never does. Publicly, he says he may increase support for Ukraine (...) behind the scenes, he even stops aid that has already been promised," adds Sullivan, who was Biden's national security adviser. "All of this suggests that Mr. Trump is not inclined to put pressure on Russia to end this war. Instead, he is betraying and abandoning Ukraine."
Ukraine is no longer a priority for the United States
"It is clear that the Trump administration will not submit any proposals for new aid to Congress. "Ukraine is not a priority for this government," the political scientist told ARD's Ralph Borchardt. It's now just a question of when the aid authorized by the Biden administration expires and whether the US will continue to provide Ukraine with at least intelligence information.
"The government has no interest in getting involved in this war," Bergman believes. Trump has tried to provoke peace talks, but has not achieved much success. "We have a president who does not want hostile relations with Russia. Who does not treat it the way the European NATO partners do, but wants to have good relations with Russia."
Will Europe be able to make up for the shortfalls?
Not only the impending cessation of US arms supplies, but also the drastic reduction in US development aid is bitter for Ukraine, ARD notes. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has been the largest recipient of funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The funds have been used to pay the salaries of Ukrainian rescue workers, as well as teachers, regional media and mine sweepers in the territories recaptured from Russia, the German public media outlet reported. The Trump administration has closed the agency. Only residual resources will be allocated under the supervision of the US State Department.
According to "Reuters", US development aid to Ukraine amounted to just $4.3 billion last December. In March, they were cut to $1.3 billion, and the trend is to continue to decrease.
The question remains whether Europe could fill this gap or, above all, as Bergmann commented, whether Germany would be able to bear these costs.
According to the experts ARD spoke to, the answer is rather: Hardly.
Author: Ralf Borchardt ARD