US President Donald Trump announced a break On American military aid to Ukraine on Monday, in the midst of relations that broke out with its Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The United States has been the largest defendant for the defense assistance in Ukraine since the Russia’s full-fledged invasion of the Eastern European country in February 2022, in addition to serving as a diplomatic complex around which a large coalition of nations supported kyiv against Moscow.
But the break on military aid comes after the increasingly public criticism of Zelenskyy de Trump and his senior officials, at a time when Ukraine asked quite the opposite – that the United States strengthens his hand before the peace negotiations with Russia pushed by Trump.
So, what did Trump stop exactly, why did he do this, and can Ukraine continue to fight Russia without new American military aid?
What happened?
After setting up tensions with Zelenskyy, Trump paused the military aid to kyiv, reported on Monday from the American media, citing unnamed American officials who insisted that the president was not convinced that Zelenskyy was attached to peace.
The news of the break occurred a few hours after Trump wrote on his social platform Truth, accusing Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the war for “as long as he has American support”.
The break will persist until Ukraine displays a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia, reported the Associated Press, citing an unnamed White House official.
Why did the United States pause military aid?
Before Trump’s break and the social post, Zelenskyy said that the end of the Ukraine war “was still very, very far”, during a briefing in kyiv on Sunday.
“It is the worst declaration that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not support it any longer!” Trump responded to Truth Social.
Zelenskyy met Trump, US vice-president JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the White House Oval Office on February 28. The tone of their press interaction quickly became hostile when Trump and Vance accused the Ukrainian chief of not being grateful for military assistance sent by the United States to the United States.
A month after its inauguration, Trump moved American policy on the Ukraine War to be more open to communication with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Washington and Moscow officials met for last month Peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia Ukraine and Europe were not invited to join them.
When Zelenskyy and its European allies discontent On this subject, Trump accused the Ukrainian president to start the war, triggering a Exchange of stretched words Between him and Zelenskyy.
Despite recent tensions with Trump, Zelenskyy said on Sunday: “I think our relationship (with the United States) will continue, because it is more than occasional relationship.”
Then came the announcement of Trump’s Bombshell that the United States spilled all military aid in Ukraine.
How much military aid the United States has promised to Ukraine?
Since the large -scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 which marked the start of this war, the US government has appropriated around $ 86 billion to send Ukraine military aid to the Congress and the Ministry of Defense (DOD), according to the calculations made by the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), using DOD budget documents.
These funds have been promised through several mechanisms, including $ 46 billion through the presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), $ 33 billion through Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and 7 billion dollars thanks to what is known by the name of foreign military financing (FMF).
The money allocated by the United States is mainly funding that goes into the manufacture of weapons dispatched to Ukraine. These include air defense systems, missiles, helicopters, tanks, coastal defense systems and bodily armor. Part of the money is also intended to reconstruct American stocks exhausted from weapons and ammunition that have been precipitated in Ukraine to help him fight against Russia.

But above all, the majority of the money that the US government has appropriated for the support of the military defense of Ukraine has not yet been disbursed, according to the analysis of the CSIS.
What exactly is the break?
Potentially, tens of billions of dollars in military aid.
The White House has not yet explained exactly what the break implies, but in theory, it could include a stop of the supply not only of future aid, but of all the money which has been appropriate to help Ukraine – and which has not yet reached kyiv in the form of weapons or other military assistance.
Since he assumed his duties, Trump has not approved any new assistance package in Ukraine. Thus, the aid packages that could be suspended are those approved by former president Joe Biden.
Of the appropriate $ 86 billion funds, only $ 20.2 billion was in fact given in Ukraine, according to CSIS analysis.
$ 28.6 billion was engaged, which means that the US Defense Ministry has announced how it was planning to use the funds. And a bucket of $ 34.2 billion was forced, which means that the government has signed contracts to produce equipment. The break could potentially mean that the United States has not allowed Ukraine until Zelenskyy is repairing links with Trump.
Part of the promised aid, approximately 2.7 billion dollars, expired before its use because it was not implemented within the deadlines stipulated during the appropriation.
Deliveries planned for 2025 included ammunition for a type of artillery weapons called Howitzers, as well as air defense systems, a former colonel of the American Marines and a main advisor at CSIS told Al Jazeera.
How much depends on Ukraine in American weapons?
Not as much as it was.
Ukraine rushed during the war to accelerate its own defense production capacities, the Prime Minister of the country Denys Shmyhal announcement Last year.
Zelenskyy told British journalist Piers Morgan in an interview published on February 4 that Ukraine now produces 40% of the weapons it needs, while the United States provides 30%. “You can imagine what would happen to us without these 30% crucial,” Zelenskyy told Morgan. Ukraine largely produced drones, electronic war systems and artillery, Zelenskyy said at a press conference on February 19.
The remaining 30% of Ukraine’s arms come from other sources, including Europe.
But the weapons that the United States has provided to Ukraine are the deadliest and the most sharp in the arsenal of the nation of Eastern Europe.
Can Ukraine continue the fight without the United States?
Cancian said that without military aid in the United States, Ukrainian forces could only hold for two to four months before Russia allowed their line.
“The breakdown of American aid deliveries reduces about half of the acquisition by Ukraine of arms, ammunition and supplies. As it stands, Ukraine was barely hung with the Russians who hammered their front lines and made continuous but expensive gains, “said Cancan.
“Without American military aid, Ukrainian forces will gradually lose combat capacities. I suppose that Ukrainians can resist for two to four months before their lines curlled and the Russians allow. »»
Could Europe fill this gap?
“European military aid has approved US military aid so far. The filling of the gap in a prolonged break of American aid would require a considerably increased commitment from Europe, “said Cancien.
“That said, weapons do not materialize overnight. It will take time for all new European commitments to be delivered in Ukraine – it will be difficult for Europe to immediately fill the gap in equipment deliveries. »»
European leaders have recently discussed How they could provide security guarantees to Kyiv. At a security summit in London on Sunday, on Sunday attended Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a group of European leaders discussed that it was essential to continue the flow arms to Ukraine. In addition, Starmer announced an agreement of 1.6 billion pounds ($ 2 billion), allowing Ukraine to spend the amount of 5,000 air defense missiles.
However, we do not know how much military aid the European allies of Ukraine will be able to provide and if they will fill Trump’s stop. Zelenskyy and European leaders have recognized that Washington’s support is essential to reach the end of the war in Ukraine. “To support peace in our continent and succeed, this effort must have support for strong support,” said Starmer after Sunday’s summit.
Roughly $ 300 billion in Russian central bank The assets were frozen by the United States and Europe after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia to a punitive extent. Now, calls for European governments such as Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia increases for the transfer of these assets to Ukraine. “Europeans could exploit this to buy additional weapons, but that would be a major change in policy,” said Cancien.
However, the French president Emmanuel Macron resisted the use of frozen Russian assets, fearing to violate the principle of immunity on foreign assets and to divert foreign investors such as China and Saudi Arabia.
What are the freezing reactions of Trump’s help?
Trump’s decision was angry with the Democrats.
The member of the Pennsylvania Congress, Brendan Boyle, described Trump’s decision as a “reckless, indefensible and a direct threat to our national security” in a press release on Monday.
“This aid was approved by the congress on a bipartite basis – the Republicans and the Democrats have recognized that the position of Ukraine represents democracy and against the aggression of Putin,” added Boyle.
Democratic representative Dan Goldman said Trump’s new decision is “another extortion of President Zelenskyy”.