President Trump reverses suspension of US weapon shipments to Ukraine

US President Donald Trump has reversed a suspension in the shipment of US precision munitions to Ukraine after apparently being unaware of how the suspension was implemented in the first place.

During a Cabinet meeting in Washington, DC, on 8 July 2025 Trump said that the US government would continue to send defensive weapons to Ukraine, but when asked by CNN journalist Kaitlan Collins who authorised the pause, Trump replied, “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”

At the time US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was sitting directly to Trump’s left.

US digital news outlet Politico reported on 1 July 2025 that the decision to suspend weapons shipments to Ukraine was made by US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby following a review of US munitions stockpiles over concerns that US weapon stockpiles had fallen too low.

CNN reported on 8 July that the Pentagon’s decision to suspend the weapon shipments to Ukraine, including much-needed Patriot air defence missiles, came after Trump asked Hegseth in June during their trip to the NATO summit to provide him with an assessment of US weapons stockpiles. Trump was apparently trying to assure that US forces in the Middle East had the required munitions to defence themselves as Israel and Iran traded blows and in light of the US B-2 attack on Iranian nuclear facilities on 21 June. However, multiple sources told CNN that Trump did not specifically direct Hegseth to halt weapons shipments to Ukraine as part of that review. That recommendation, CNN asserted according to multiple sources, came from Colby, who has long been sceptical of sending large quantities of US military aid to Ukraine.

Furthermore, CNN reported that, according to five sources familiar with the matter, Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorised the suspension of Ukrainian weapon shipments.

The Hegseth-authorised suspension of precision munitions to Ukraine coincided with the country suffering from the heaviest Russian aerial bombardment since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with over a thousand Iranian-sourced Shahed bomb-laden unmanned aerial vehicles and dozens of Russian missiles targeting the country in recent weeks. The provision of air defence missiles such as Patriot interceptors has thus been needed more than ever.

While Trump has previously claimed to have a good relationship with Putin, amid the US president’s failure to bring a truce to the Ukraine War – which he claimed prior to taking office for his second term that he could bring about on ‘Day One’ – there are now signs that Trump is finally coming to the realisation that Putin cannot be trusted.

In his 8 July Cabinet meeting Trump stated, “We get a lot of bulls**t thrown at us by Putin. You want to know the truth? It’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Stating that he wanted to provide Ukraine with defensive weapons, Trump stated, “Putin is not, he’s not treating human beings right. It’s killing too many people. So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine and I’ve approved that.”