President Donald Trump is weighing whether to send yet another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, even as US arsenals face critical shortages in some munitions. The Pentagon recently assessed that it has only 25% of the Patriot interceptors needed for its various battle plans.
“President Trump is considering sending an additional Patriot air-defense system to Ukraine, according to two officials,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Sending another Patriot would be a significant step for the White House, marking the first time Trump has approved providing a major weapons system to Kiev beyond the number authorized by the Biden White House.”
Before leaving office, President Joe Biden authorized billions in arms transfers to Ukraine. While Trump has allowed most of those shipments to continue, the Pentagon froze shipments of Patriot interceptors and other weapons last week, claiming that the US did not have sufficient supplies for its defenses.
Washington has sent Kiev tens of billions of dollars in arms since 2022 – with $182 billion allocated for all forms of aid – allowing the Ukrainian military to continue to fight Russia despite vast disparities in supplies and manpower. US politicians in both parties have endorsed the policy, arguing it is weakening Russia without American troops fighting and dying (that’s what the Ukrainians are for).
Trump campaigned on ending the war in Ukraine on his first day in office, telling the American people that giving arms to Kiev was not in our country’s interest.
While the message resonated with many voters, Trump has faced stiff resistance in Washington. The president appeared to walk back the Pentagon’s decision to withhold weapons from Ukraine on Monday. During a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, “We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons – defensive weapons primarily.”
If Trump plans to continue authorizing new weapons shipments to Ukraine, he will likely need to go to Capitol Hill for additional funding. At the beginning of the year, there was just shy of $4 billion remaining in congressionally allocated funds for the Ukraine proxy war – a seemingly massive figure, but only a drop in the bucket compared to overall US expenditures throughout the conflict.
