Trump authorizes arms sales to Ukraine for the first time

About 9 months after taking office as US President, Donald Trump has authorized the sale of arms to Ukraine for the first time. US Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby has already signed the authorization letter for the arms shipment to Ukraine.

The White House, the official residence of the US President, and several high-ranking officials at the Ministry of Defense have said that the United States will soon send two arms shipments to Ukraine. Each shipment will contain weapons and ammunition worth $500 million.

However, the Trump administration is not providing these weapons as aid like the administration led by former President Joe Biden. Kiev's European allies are purchasing these weapons from the United States and sending them to Ukraine. They will also pay for the shipment.

US officials said that a decision has been made to send a total of $10 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine under a new agreement called the Prioritized Ukraine Requirement List (PEARL). Its first shipment is going to Ukraine.

Incidentally, after taking the oath of office on January 20, Donald Trump said that Washington would prioritize a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war and that no more military aid would be granted to Ukraine. He has tried to keep that promise for the past 9 months. In addition to cutting off US military aid to Ukraine, he has also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky several times to negotiate a ceasefire. However, there has been no visible progress on the ceasefire issue in the past 9 months of the Trump administration's activities.

Despite that, US arms shipments to Ukraine have been approved by the Biden administration in the past 9 months. The administration led by Donald Trump has still suspended US military aid to Ukraine.

No details are known about the weapons in the two shipments ready to be sent to Kiev, but a Biden administration official said that the shipment includes air defense systems along with other weapons. This system is being sent to Kiev to prevent widespread Russian missile and drone attacks.

"Ukraine's European allies have placed a large number of arms orders for Kiev under Pearl," the official told Reuters. "We are reviewing their list of orders. Only those weapons on the list that are consistent with US policy will be sent to Kiev."