European leaders are trying to find a way to provide weapons to Ukraine as U.S. President Donald Trump looks set to withdraw military aid to the country, which is defending itself from a Russian attack.
One option they are considering is to buy American weapons. This is reported by Bloomberg, quoted by FOCUS, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Europe has neither sufficient stocks of weapons nor the ability to mass produce them, so an increasingly realistic option is for the Europeans to purchase American weapons systems and then transfer them to Ukraine, the sources told the publication.
It is noted that this would help Ukraine deter Russia's offensive and put new pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to take the issue of a ceasefire seriously. And if the Europeans manage to convince Trump to continue providing intelligence, Ukraine will probably be able to hold its ground.
"I'm not entirely sure how bad it would be if the US withdrew, leaving Europe or Ukraine to buy American weapons and allowing intelligence sharing with Ukraine. "This is not an ideal scenario, certainly not the best, but it is not the worst-case scenario that we feared," said Andrew Weiss, vice president for research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Such a reversal would effectively force Trump to choose between continuing to avoid conflict with Putin or benefiting from the sale of major arms deals. Experts warn that arms sales approved and funded by the administration of former US President Joe Biden could end this summer, and Europe is unlikely to be able to fill the gap. Experts say Putin will try to take advantage of this situation.
That's why supplying Ukraine with American weapons - purchased or provided as aid - is the only way to convince Putin to end the war, says Charles Kapchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
"Trump understands that if he "abandons" Ukraine and Russia forces it to capitulate, it will be a spectacular political defeat for him. Ukraine will become Trump's new Afghanistan, if not worse," Kapchan said.