President Donald Trump delivered some of his sharpest-ever criticism of Vladimir Putin and said the U.S. is resuming deliveries of weapons to Ukraine to counter Russian attacks on civilians.
Speaking at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, the president said he was “not happy” with the Russian president, who he accused of “killing a lot of people”, including many of his own soldiers to the tune of “7,000 a week.”
Trump said there is “no reason” for Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine and complained that reaching a ceasefire in the three-year-old war Putin launched has been “tougher” than expected, while crediting Kyiv’s forces for bravery as they’ve battled back Russia’s invasion.
“I will say the Ukrainians were brave, but we gave them the best equipment ever made ... we gave them missiles, the latest and the greatest. They were able to shoot down a lot of things,” he said.
The president also acknowledged that many of his supporters might consider it “unfair” that the U.S. has spent billions for weapons bound for Ukraine while still crediting Ukrainians for exhibiting valor while using their American-made military supplies against Russia.
“I will say this, the Ukrainians, whether you think it's unfair that we gave all that money or not, they were very brave, because somebody had to operate that stuff. And a lot of people I know wouldn't be operating it, they wouldn't have the courage to do it. So they fought very bravely, but we gave them the best equipment in the world,” he said.
Continuing, Trump said that Putin, with whom he has had a relatively close relationship compared with many of America’s allies, has “thrown a lot of bulls***” at him while continuing to prosecute the war he started in 2022.
“It's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” he said.
He later added that Putin was “not treating human beings right” and is “killing too many people” in Ukraine.
“So we're sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I've approved that,” he said.
Trump’s comments came less than 24 hours after he said the U.S. would resume weapons shipments to Kyiv during the ongoing Russian aerial attacks, just days after the Pentagon halted shipments to review whether current stockpiles were sufficient for American defense needs.
Speaking during a dinner on Monday with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of their respective staffs, Trump was asked if he planned to send more weapons for use by Kyiv.
He replied affirmatively, telling reporters: “We're going to send some more weapons.”
“We have to, they have to be able to defend themselves,” he added.
The abrupt reversal happened after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC News that his forces had been counting on promised weapons shipments, including 20,000 anti-drone missiles that the Trump administration diverted to the Middle East. Zelensky said the missiles in question, which had been pledged by the Biden administration, were needed to counter the Shahed drones that Moscow has been raining down on his country.
That diversion, which had been ordered by defense secretary Pete Hegseth, ostensibly to give U.S. and Israeli forces needed arms for a potential war with Iran, was part of a larger pause in aid that Pentagon officials say was prompted by concerns that U.S. stockpiles were getting too low.
At the time, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the decision had been made “to put America’s interests first following a DOD review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe”.
Trump had also briefly ordered a halt to shipments after a disastrous Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian president in March but resumed them after Republican lawmakers complained.
