Without fanfare, Trump quietly approves $30 million more in arms for Ukraine amid rising global tensions
New Arms Transfer Comes Amid Congressional Scrutiny
Ukraine Aid Freeze and Reversal Tied to Ceasefire Talks
Trump Administration's Quiet Approval of $242 Million For Aid
Live Events
Lawmakers Push for Transparency and Action
FAQs
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
US president Donald Trump's administration has quietly informed Congress of its approval for a new arms transfer to Ukraine, valued at approximately $30 million, reported Kyiv Post.The approval of the proposed transfer of 'major defense equipment' came as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth completed his multi-day spree of testimony on Capitol Hill, with the aim to convince lawmakers that the current administration continued to 'send presidential drawdown authorities' (PDA) to Ukraine without offering further details, reported Kyiv Post.A Trump administration official, who is part of the Executive Branch's communications with Congress, told Kyiv Post that US military aid for Ukraine under the Arms Export Control Act 'has not stopped despite brief interruptions earlier this year," as per the report.According to the report, Trump had frozen all military aid to Ukraine in March and then lifted the block shortly afterwards, following ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia.While the Trump administration had also quietly approved another $242 million proposed arms transfer for Ukraine last month, reported Kyiv Post, citing sources.When Hegseth was asked by Democrat Senator Chris Coons (D-CT) why the administration was not using the previously approved remaining $3.8 billion in PDA to send additional air defense capabilities to Kyiv, during a Senate committee hearing, he said that the flow of weapons from earlier commitments was continuing but did not give any other details, as per the report.Coons told the Pentagon head that 'We should not be pursuing a ceasefire and a negotiated resolution to the war in Ukraine at any cost,' adding, 'Peace through strength means actually using our strength, continuing to support Ukraine and securing a lasting peace. Putin will only stop when we stop him, and the best way to stop him is indeed through a stronger NATO,' quoted Kyiv Post.The latest approved package is valued at around $30 million and includes what's described as 'major defense equipment.'No, despite a brief pause in March, aid has resumed. An official said support under US arms laws continues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
12 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana West bypoll: Haryana CM rakes up water sharing dispute, AAP hits back
Ludhiana Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini launched a sharp attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, during his campaign in Ludhiana West, accusing it of betraying the teachings of the Sikh gurus by blocking drinking water to Haryana. Saini, who was here to campaign for party candidate Jiwan Gupta, said AAP is playing politics over the issues of water and farmers, instead of solving them. 'The AAP government refused to release Haryana's rightful share of drinking water from the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). Punjab is the land of the great Gurus who always taught that no one should be denied water. But today, this government is denying us drinking water. Haryana and Punjab are like brothers, why play politics in the name of water?' he questioned, terming AAP's opposition to sharing water as a betrayal of Punjab's spiritual values. Saini also claimed that the people of Punjab opposed AAP for stopping water to Haryana. The CM also accused AAP of misleading the public on farmers' issues. 'While the Haryana BJP government has provided minimum support price (MSP) for all crops and continues to support farmers with subsidies, the AAP government has used force and lathi charge against farmers. AAP only uses the name of farmers to gain sympathy but does nothing substantial for their welfare,' he said. The controversy erupted on April 28 when the Haryana government's demand for additional water from the Bhakra Dam was approved by the BBMB despite opposition from Punjab. The Punjab government refused to accept the decision and deployed police at Nangal dam, 13km downstream from Bhakra, to stop the additional water release. Later the matter reached the high court which disposed of the matter on May 26, while the fresh water sharing cycle started on May 21. Saini also hit out at AAP's anti-drug campaign, calling them a 'drama' meant to divert attention from the government's failures. 'These actions are more about grabbing headlines than actual results,' Saini said. Slamming both AAP and Congress, Saini said the people of Punjab were first let down by Congress and now by AAP. 'For five years, Congress fooled the people, and now, for the past three and a half years, AAP has done the same,' he said. The Haryana CM then drew comparisons between Punjab and Haryana in terms of central government scheme implementation. He said that under BJP rule, Haryana has successfully implemented schemes like Ayushman Bharat, PM Awas Yojana, PM Krishi Yojana, and Ujjwala Yojana. 'In contrast, these benefits are yet to reach the people of Punjab,' he added, urging the voters of Ludhiana West to give the BJP a chance. He said BJP's candidate Jiwan Gupta would win the bypoll as 'people are angry with both AAP and Congress and want change. They want good governance, and that is what BJP stands for.' No extra water to give: Bains Cabinet minister Harjot Singh Bains slammed the Haryana CM's remarks and said he pressured the BBMB to divert Punjab waters. 'It was a conspiracy to deprive Punjab of its rightful water share. Saini had pressured the BBMB to unfairly divert Punjab's water, and AAP exposed this,' Bains alleged. He further clarified that under previous governments, Punjab lacked proper canal irrigation coverage. 'However, under CM Bhagwant Mann, canal water has reached over 65% of Punjab's agricultural land and thus we have no extra water to give to other states,' Bains added. Embed Saini faces protest Ludhiana CM Nayab Singh Saini, who arrived in the city to campaign for the BJP candidate Jiwan Gupta, was met with a group of protesters who accused him of attempting to deprive Punjab of its rightful share of river water. The protesters raised slogans near Sherpur Chowk and alleged that Haryana was trying to usurp water allocated to Punjab, affecting the state's agriculture and groundwater levels. Saini, while mentioning the protests, claimed it to be stage managed by Congress and AAP. 'Congress and AAP jointly staged several protests against me in Haryana too and it is nothing more than a political gimmick. The people of Haryana have rejected Congress and AAP for their cheap political tactics,' Saini said.
Hindustan Times
13 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Trump & Vance drop hint of US Army's 'New War' amid Iran vs Israel? Full speech
Amid growing unrest between US ally Israel and Iran, Donald Trump delivered his Army Day Parade speech in Washington, DC on June 14. The Parade, being held in commemoration of the Army's 250th anniversary, coincided with Donald Trump's birthday. During his speech, Trump warned America's enemies against targeting US citizens. Notably, the Army Day celebrations were also marked with nationwide protests termed 'No Kings', and were fashioned as anti-Trump demonstrations. Watch JD Vance and Donald Trump's full speeches here.
Time of India
18 minutes ago
- Time of India
Political violence is threaded through recent US history. The motives and justifications vary
The assassination of one Democratic Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, and the shooting of another lawmaker and his wife at their homes, is just the latest addition to a long and unsettling roll call of political violence in the United States. The list, in the past two months alone: the killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. The firebombing of a Colorado march calling for the release of Israeli hostages, and the firebombing of the official residence of Pennsylvania's governor - on a Jewish holiday while he and his family were inside. And here's just a sampling of some other disturbing attacks before that - the assassination of a health care executive on the streets of New York City late last year, the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in small-town Pennsylvania during his presidential campaign last year, the 2022 attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by a believer in right-wing conspiracy theories, and the 2017 shooting by a liberal gunman at a GOP practice for the congressional softball game. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Live Comfortably: 60 m² Prefab Bungalow for Seniors in El Alto Pre Fabricated Homes | Search Ads Search Now Undo "We've entered into this especially scary time in the country where it feels the sort of norms and rhetoric and rules that would tamp down on violence have been lifted," said Matt Dallek, a political scientist at Georgetown University who studies extremism. "A lot of people are receiving signals from the culture." Politics behind both individual shootings and massacres Politics have also driven large-scale massacres. Gunmen who killed 11 worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, 23 shoppers at a heavily Latino Walmart in El Paso in 2019 and 10 Black people at a Buffalo grocery store in 2022 each cited the conspiracy theory that a secret cabal of Jews were trying to replace white people with people of color. That has become a staple on parts of the right that support Trump's push to limit immigration. Live Events The Anti-Defamation League found that from 2022 through 2024, all of the 61 political killings in the United States were committed by right-wing extremists. That changed on the first day of 2025, when a Texas man flying the flag of the Islamic State group killed 14 people by driving his truck through a crowded New Orleans street before being fatally shot by police. "You're seeing acts of violence from all different ideologies," said Jacob Ware, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who researches terrorism. "It feels more random and chaotic and more frequent." The United States has a long and grim history of political violence, from presidential assassinations dating back to the killing of President Abraham Lincoln to lynchings and violence aimed at Black people in the South to the 1954 shooting inside Congress by four Puerto Rican nationalists. Experts say the past few years, however, have likely reached a level not seen since the tumultuous days of the 1960s and 1970s, when icons like Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. Ware noted that the most recent surge comes after the new Trump administration has shuttered units that focus on investigating white supremacist extremism and pushed federal law enforcement to spend less time on anti-terrorism and more on detaining people who are in the country illegally. "We're at the point, after these six weeks, where we have to ask about how effectively the Trump administration is combating terrorism," Ware said. Of course, one of Trump's first acts in office was to pardon those involved in the largest act of domestic political violence this century - the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, intended to prevent Congress from certifying Trump's 2020 election loss. Those pardons broadcast a signal to would-be extremists on either side of the political debate, Dallek said: "They sent a very strong message that violence, as long as you're a Trump supporter, will be permitted and may be rewarded." Ideologies aren't always aligned - or coherent Often, those who engage in political violence don't have clearly defined ideologies that easily monto the country's partisan divides. A man who died after he detonated a car bomb outside a Palm Springs fertility clinic last month left writings urging people not to procreate and expressed what the FBI called "nihilistic ideations." But, like clockwork, each political attack seems to inspire partisans to find evidence the attacker is on the other side. Little was known about the man police identified as a suspect in the Minnesota attacks, 57-year-old Vance Boelter . Authorities say they found a list of other apparent targets that included other Democratic officials, abortion clinics and abortion rights advocates, as well as fliers for the day's anti-Trump parades. Conservatives online seized on the fliers - and the fact that Boetler had apparently once been appointed to a state workforce development board by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz - to claim the suspect must be a liberal. "The far left is murderously violent," billionaire Elon Musk posted on his social media site, X. It was reminiscent of the fallout from the attack on Paul Pelosi, the former House speaker's then-82-year-old husband, who was seriously injured by a man wielding a hammer. Right-wing figures theorized the assailant was a secret lover rather than what authorities said he was: a believer in pro-Trump conspiracy theories who broke into the Pelosi home echoing Jan. 6 rioters who broke into the Capitol by saying: "Where is Nancy?!" On Saturday, Nancy Pelosi posted a statement on X decrying the Minnesota attack. "All of us must remember that it's not only the act of violence, but also the reaction to it, that can normalize it," she wrote. Trump had mocked the Pelosis after the 2022 attack, but on Saturday he joined in the official bipartisan condemnation of the Minnesota shootings, calling them "horrific violence." The president has, however, consistently broken new ground with his bellicose rhetoric towards his political opponents, who he routinely calls "sick" and "evil," and has talked repeatedly about how violence is needed to quell protests. The Minnesota attack occurred after Trump took the extraordinary step of mobilizing the military to try to control protests against his administration's immigration operations in Los Angeles during the past week, when he pledged to "HIT" disrespectful protesters and warned of a "migrant invasion" of the city. Dallek said Trump has been "both a victim and an accelerant" of the charged, dehumanizing political rhetoric that is flooding the country. "It feels as if the extremists are in the saddle," he said, "and the extremists are the ones driving our rhetoric and politics."
