Pentagon: Under Trump’s Order, the U.S. to Provide Additional Defensive Weapons to Ukraine

Under the directive of President Donald Trump, the United States will provide Ukraine with additional defensive weapons.

The Pentagon confirmed this in a statement that spokesperson Sean Parnell issued on the department’s website late on the evening of July 7.

“At the direction of President Trump, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine so that the Ukrainian people can defend themselves while we work towards securing lasting peace and ending the killings,” the statement reads.

It also noted that the U.S. President’s mandate to assess military supplies worldwide remains in effect and continues to be an integral part of defense priorities under the ‘America First’ doctrine.

Prior to this, President Donald Trump made a statement regarding the arms shipment during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

“We will send more weapons. We are forced to do this. They must be able to defend themselves. They are taking very heavy hits right now. We will have to send more weapons. This is mostly defensive weaponry, but the attacks are really severe. Too many people are dying in that slaughter,” the U.S. President said.

Trump also mentioned his recent conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the results of which he expressed dissatisfaction with.

Journalist Lara Seligman from The Wall Street Journal reported that during a phone call on Friday, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he was not responsible for halting arms shipments to Kyiv.

According to sources familiar with the conversation, Trump stated that he had ordered a review of the Pentagon’s ammunition stocks after the U.S. struck Iran’s nuclear facilities last month, but he did not instruct the Pentagon to freeze weapons shipments.

On July 1, U.S. media reported that the United States had temporarily suspended some arms shipments to Ukraine, citing concerns over the potential depletion of U.S. military stockpiles.

A few days later, 17 members of Congress and Senators came together to send a letter to the Pentagon, urging the swift resumption of all arms supplies to Ukraine.