Western Europe considers buying US arms for Ukraine
Western European leaders are looking into the possibility of purchasing American weapons and giving them to Ukraine once the arms transfers approved by the previous administration of US President Joe Biden run out, Bloomberg has reported on Saturday.
US President Donald Trump reiterated earlier this week that Washington could 'walk away' from the Ukraine conflict if the American-brokered talks between Moscow and Kiev do not deliver any meaningful results. 'This is a European situation. It should have remained a European situation,' he said.
A proposal to buy arms from the US for Ukraine so that it could continue fighting Russia is currently 'gaining more credence' in the EU and UK amid concerns that American deliveries would cease in summer, Bloomberg reports.
'The idea is that if Trump refuses to send US weapons to Ukraine, Europe will,' people familiar with the matter explained to the agency.
The heads of the European NATO member-states believe that if they will also be able to persuade Trump to continue providing intelligence to Kiev then 'Vladimir Zelensky may be able to hang on,' the sources said.
Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged that France had reached the limits of its capacity to supply domestically-produced weapons to Ukraine. 'We cannot give what we do not have, and we cannot pluck our own army. We gave everything we could, tripled production,' he stated.
In March 2024, then-Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell described the strain on the EU's weapons stockpiles, noting that after two years of military support to Kiev, 'existing stocks are depleted and the conflict has evolved from a war of stocks to a war of production.' He also pointed out that the European defense industry meets only around 40% of its own needs, meaning that member states import the majority of their military equipment.
Since returning to office in January 2025, President Trump has not announced any new US-funded military aid packages to Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly warned that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine will not stop its military objectives but will prolong the conflict and raise the risk of NATO confrontation. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said the Trump administration 'wants peace,' unlike Western Europe, which seeks to prolong the fighting. On Saturday, the Foreign Ministry reaffirmed Moscow's commitment to a peaceful resolution despite increased Ukrainian drone strikes.
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