Arms supplies to Ukraine have not decreased since US President Donald Trump's decision to halt direct donations to Ukraine, a senior NATO military official said, quoted by "Reuters".
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has only sold weapons or sent donations to Ukraine that had already been approved by former President Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of Kiev.
Then, since the fall, under a mechanism developed by the US and its allies called the "Priority List for Ukraine" or PURL, Ukraine is being supplied with weapons from US stockpiles using funds from NATO countries.
When asked if there had been a drop in military supplies since Trump halted the donations, Maj. Gen. Mike Keller, deputy commander of NATO's Security and Training Force in Ukraine (NSATU), said: "No, nothing".
"There has been no pause... it just keeps going and the US doesn't have to wait until it's paid. As soon as a package (PURL) is announced, the flow of materials starts," he told Reuters.
"We found that many European countries are actually contributing to the funding."
Under Biden, the US was Kiev's largest military donor. NATO’s secretary general said this month that allies and partners have provided more than $4 billion so far under the new scheme.
Ukraine remains heavily dependent on US weapons, nearly four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Fighting rages across more than 1,200km in eastern, southern and northern Ukraine as talks to end the war continue.
NATO’s mission in Ukraine has been coordinating arms deliveries to Kiev since December 2024, matching Kiev’s needs for weapons, equipment and training with offers received from NATO and non-NATO donor countries.
The United States is still providing the NSATU commander and some of his personnel.
Speaking at NSATU headquarters in Wiesbaden, Keller said the mission had provided around 220,000 tonnes military aid to Kiev in 2025, which equates to about 9,000 trucks, 1,800 rail cars and 500 aircraft loaded with weapons, ammunition and other materials. There was no year-on-year comparison, as NSATU only started coordinating a year ago.
"It's never enough. But at least it's enough to keep Ukraine in the fight," he said.
"Ukraine is capable of holding the front line, of defending the skies as much as possible. And that shows us that we had good support, but of course there could always be more.”
While most of the aid is currently being channeled through a hub in the Polish city of Rzeszow, Keller said a second hub in Romania is expected to come under NATO command by the end of January.
The general cited Ukraine’s most pressing needs as air defense, artillery, anti-tank mines, electronic warfare capabilities and deep-strike weapons that can hit Russian airfields or refineries far beyond the front lines.
The National Defense Assistance Act for fiscal year 2026, signed by Trump on Thursday, provided $800 million for Ukraine — $400 million over the next two years — as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays U.S. companies for weapons for the Ukrainian military.