Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Mikhail Metzel | Evelyn Hockstein | Via Reuters
President Donald Trump said he will speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET.
The call, announced by Trump in a Truth Social post, comes two days after the U.S. said it would halt some missile and ammunitions shipments to Ukraine, which continues to fight off invading Russian forces.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the pause weeks after ordering a review of America’s munitions stockpile, sources told NBC News.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told NBC that the “decision was made to put America’s interests first” following the Pentagon’s review of U.S. military support for other countries.
“The strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned — just ask Iran,” Kelly said.
The decision fueled further concerns from those skeptical of Trump’s commitment to providing U.S. assistance to Ukraine in the fourth year of its war with Russia.
“Ukraine has never asked America to send in the 82nd airborne; they’ve asked for the weapons to defend their homeland and people from Russia attacks,” said Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of State during Trump’s first presidential term, in an X post Wednesday.
“Letting Russia win this war would be a unmitigated disaster for the American people and our security around the world,” Pompeo wrote.
On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the department “continues to provide the President with robust options regard regarding military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.”
At the same time, he said, the Pentagon is “rigorously examining and adapting its approach towards achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. military readiness and defense priorities that support the president’s America first agenda,” Parnell said.
“This capability review, and that’s exactly what it is, going forward, we see this as a common sense pragmatic step towards having a framework to evaluate what munitions are sent and where,” he said.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Washington and Kyiv are “clarifying all the details of defense support, including air defense.”
“One way or another, we must ensure protection for our people,” Zelenskyy said.
The pause comes as Russia has ramped up its attacks all around Ukraine. Kyiv’s foreign affairs minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Russia launched more than 5,000 combat drones and hundreds of missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, in June alone.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it stressed to a U.S. official on Wednesday that “any delay or slowing down in supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities would only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, rather than seek peace.”
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