US has ‘frozen' weapons sales to Ukraine
The US has halted weapons sales to Ukraine, senior MP Roman Kostenko, who serves as secretary of the Verkhovnaya Rada's Defense Committee, claimed on Thursday.
Washington has been the biggest source of military aid to Ukraine since the escalation of its conflict with Russia in early 2022, including through weapons and equipment shipments and financial support. Part of the financial aid has been used to pay US arms makers to procure new weapons for Ukraine's army or replace old ones previously provided.
In an interview with journalist Natalia Moseychuk, Kostenko stated that 'according to my information, the weapons that were going up for sale have stopped. Those companies that were ready to transfer these weapons are now waiting because there is no decision [from Washington].'
He claimed that the suspensions were linked to the budding rapprochement between Washington and Moscow, who held their first direct negotiations at senior level in three years in Saudi Arabia this week. According to Kostenko, the fact that Ukraine was not invited to the talks has prompted uncertainty among US arms manufacturers about deliveries to Kiev.
Kostenko said Ukraine is attempting to resolve the issue and has offered to pay for the weapons directly instead of counting on their delivery as part of US aid. His remarks were confirmed by fellow MP Aleksey Goncharenko in a Telegram post on Friday.
'The US has frozen arms sales to Ukraine. Roman Kostenko's statement yesterday is absolutely true,' Goncharenko wrote, adding that 'American companies confirmed this to me.'
Neither Washington nor US arms makers have commented on the reported pause in shipments. Ukrainian MP Alexandra Ustinova, who serves as an adviser to the defense minister, refuted the claims in a post on Facebook, stating that 'the US has NOT stopped selling weapons to Ukraine' and advising fellow MPs not to 'add fuel to the fire' by voicing unconfirmed information.
The remarks come amid a growing spat between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, the US leader accused Zelensky of mismanaging the conflict with Russia and misusing American financial aid. Trump earlier threatened to cut aid for Ukraine, and has insisted that Kiev must repay Washington for the funding it has received, which the US leader claimed was 'more than $300 billion.' He demanded the 'equivalent of $500 billion worth of rare earths' from Ukraine in return.
Zelensky has accused the US leader of 'living in a disinformation space' supposedly created by Russia. He rejected the proposal for Ukraine's rare earths, saying last week that it was not 'in the interests of sovereign Ukraine.' Zelensky previously refuted Trump's estimates of the aid provided by Washington, insisting Ukraine had not received even half of that sum.
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