Ukraine Races to Salvage U.S. Alliance After Trump Halts Aid

New York Times

04-03-2025

A day after President Trump ordered the suspension of American military assistance, Ukrainian diplomats and politicians scrambled on Tuesday to find a way to salvage its alliance with Washington while the war weary nation prepared for the possibility that it will have to fight on without U.S. support.
With the White House and the Kremlin growing ever more closely aligned, Ukraine was seeking to shore up support from its European allies, many of whom were quick to offer reassurances on Tuesday. Military officials were assessing how long Ukraine's own stockpiles would last before the situation led to critical gaps on the front.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine did not comment directly on the aid suspension — which will affect more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition in the pipeline and on order — but he convened senior civilian and military leaders to discuss 'special issues concerning our national resilience.'
'We are working on all possible scenarios to protect Ukraine,' he said in his nightly address to the nation on Monday. 'The base line scenario is to hold positions and create conditions for proper diplomacy, for the soonest possible end to this war with a decent peace.'
In comments that seemed aimed at addressing President Trump's accusations that he doesn't want peace, Mr. Zelensky added: 'We need peace — real, fair peace — not endless war. And we need security guarantees.'
An emergency meeting in the Ukrainian parliament was convened on Tuesday to assess the impact of the latest pressure from Trump administration while soldiers in the trenches woke up to the news that an already grueling war could get even more challenging, and brutal.
The decision to suspend the delivery of aid came three days after an explosive meeting at the White House in which Mr. Trump berated Mr. Zelensky and called him ungrateful — a rupture in relations that might be difficult to repair.
In the streets and in the halls of Ukraine's government, there were cries of betrayal. But more than anger there was a sense of sadness and disbelief.
The first thing that came to mind upon hearing the news was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's phrase that 'this date will go down in infamy,' Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in parliament, said in an interview. 'It was a kind of Pearl Harbor, a political Pearl Harbor, for us.'
It is all the more painful, Mr. Merezhko said, 'when it comes not from your enemy, but from whom you consider to be your friend.'
'This is awful,' he added. 'It's like the worst betrayal.'
Mykhailo Samus, the deputy director at the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies in Ukraine, an independent institution, said a cutoff in aid would mean 'that the U.S. is conducting a joint operation with Russia to force Ukraine — the victim of aggression — into surrender.'
'The consequences would be a blow to the U.S.'s position as the former leader of the West,' he added.
The impact to Ukraine would also be severe and grow with time, Mr. Samus said. But 'if Trump thinks, or his advisers think, that there is some kind of switch that turns off the Armed Forces of Ukraine,' Mr. Samus added, then the administration has fundamentally misunderstand why Ukrainians are fighting, their will to carry on and the current dynamics on the battlefield.
European leaders — who will convene in Brussels on Thursday to discuss both support for Kyiv and the urgent need for Europe to build up its own military capabilities — were quick to rush to Ukraine's defense Tuesday morning.
Ursula von der Leyen, who heads the executive arm of the 27-nation European Union, said: 'This is Europe's moment and we must live up to it.'
Appearing in Brussels, she proposed a new program that would make 150 billion euros in loans to member states to fund defense investment.
Britain's deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, said America's suspension of military aid to Ukraine was 'a very serious moment.' But she told the BBC that Prime Minister Keir Starmer would continue to work with the U.S., Europe and Ukraine to achieve a lasting peace.
Asked whether Mr. Starmer might come to regret his cordial meeting last week with Mr. Trump and the invitation for a second state visit, she said that Mr. Starmer 'won't choose between the U.S. and Europe.'
The Kremlin, not surprisingly, rejoiced at the latest news.
'If it's true, then this is a decision which could really push the Kyiv regime to a peace process,' Dmitry S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters.
'It's obvious that the United States has been the main supplier of this war,' he added. 'If the U.S. stops those supplies, this will be the best contribution to peace, I think.'
However, Ukrainians and Western military analysts said that rather than speeding the end of the war, the move could give Moscow even more incentive to keep fighting. They noted that it was Mr. Putin who started the war and whose army is on the offensive, albeit slowly.
'There is no evidence that Russia would be prepared to accept a deal, and what that would be,' said Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director general of the Royal United Services Institute, a research group in London. 'Indeed this decision will encourage Putin to ask for more — including Ukrainian demilitarization and neutrality.'
The pause will halt the delivery of interceptor missiles for Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, which have saved an untold number of lives as they provide the best shield for Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure from missile and drone attacks.
While military analysts and Ukrainian officials have said Kyiv is in a better position to sustain its war effort than it was in late 2023, when Congress suspended assistance for months, the move would have cascading effects that will grow with time.