The Pentagon cut arms supplies to Ukraine: what is Trump’s goal?

The Pentagon’s decision to temporarily suspend arms supplies to Ukraine was generally predictable, but for some reason the current government was not ready for this and did not react in time, bringing the conflict into the public arena, which was very welcomed in the Kremlin.

This opinion was expressed on the air of “Pryamoy” by Valeriy Chaly, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.

“This was predictable. The decision, as far as I understand, was being prepared in June. And then suddenly a message appears in the diplomatic plan, while Moscow applauds that there is already a general information loss. Perhaps this was the goal – for Moscow to receive this message right now. But at the same time, unfortunately, the level of our interaction, both through the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs… There, we now have the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, heading the United States direction. And the call of the head of the US embassy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make a demarche to him – I don’t remember such a thing. This simply goes beyond anything I even expected,” Chaly noted.

“Because the level of interaction should be such that all these things should be predictable in advance, and such things are not brought to the public stage. This means, indeed, that Ukraine, the Ukrainian side, was completely unprepared to respond to this situation,” the diplomat added.

At the same time, he expressed his belief that it is unlikely that the current US administration will actually stop military aid to Ukraine, since this would require a decision by Congress. Therefore, the key goal of such steps is “to open up opportunities for negotiations with Putin,” the former ambassador believes.

“Yes, they can delay it. For a week, a month, but they cannot cancel the decision of Congress… There is no political decision not to supply weapons to Ukraine. There is a political decision to open up opportunities for negotiations with Putin. The Russians have repeatedly insisted that we need to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine… For some reason, everyone started talking very actively from different sides that let’s prepare a meeting between Trump and Putin. Apparently, there is an unspoken agreement that now such weapons that were listed, which the Russians really don’t want most of all, that we had this, they will now put them on such a short pause,” Chaly explains.

“That is, this is again Trump’s game of “carrots and sticks” with regard to Putin, trying to bring him to the negotiating table with a more realistic position. Because Putin is now demanding Ukraine’s surrender. Putin will not change anything. And again, these maneuvers will end in nothing,” the Ukrainian diplomat noted.

Recall, the Pentagon temporarily stopped the supply of some types of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine due to concerns that US weapons stocks had become too depleted. According to sources in Politico, the initial decision to cut aid promised by the Joseph Biden administration was made in early June, but has only now come into effect.

According to NBC News, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a temporary suspension of the supply of a number of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. The ammunition and other weapons may remain withheld until the end of the ongoing assessment conducted by US defense authorities. If a shortage of ammunition or their need for other regions is identified, the terms of the delay may be extended.

Instead, the Ministry of Defense stated that Ukraine had not received official notifications about the suspension of the agreed military aid. The department plans to discuss the details with its American colleagues. At the same time, the US State Department assured that they had not stopped all arms supplies to Ukraine , and the Pentagon’s decision made the day before was just one situation.

It should be noted that Russia welcomed the information about the possible suspension of US aid to Ukraine. As Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated, such decisions by Washington bring the end of the so-called “self-interest”. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stated on Fox News that he understands the Trump administration’s desire to worry primarily about its own interests, but at the same time calls for continued military support for Ukraine .

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