Members of President Donald Trump’s national security team plan to discuss Tuesday the details of shipping weapons, including Patriot missiles, to Ukraine after Trump said he would dispatch defensive weapons to the country, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to – they have to be able to defend themselves,” Trump said Monday evening ahead of a dinner with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons,” Trump added. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard.”
The president’s comment amounted to a turnaround after a senior White House official told CNN last week the Trump administration was pausing some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including air defense missiles. The decision came after a review of military spending and American support to foreign countries that was signed off by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said at the time that the decision was made “to put America’s interests first.”