President Donald Trump told NBC News in a Thursday night interview that NATO will foot the bill for U.S.-supplied Patriot missile shipments to Ukraine.
Trump reached the arrangement with NATO at the summit in The Hague, Netherlands, in June, the president told NBC News. Shipments of the critical interceptor missiles were briefly paused on July 2 pending a review of U.S. stockpiles, a move reportedly orchestrated by the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, but Trump reversed the pause on Monday.
“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump told NBC. “So what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and NATO is paying for those weapons.” (RELATED: Trump To Send Portion Of Key Missile Shipment To Ukraine)
A soldier stands next to PATRIOT (Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target) surface-to-air missile systems ahead a military exercise at Warsaw Babice Airport, Poland on February 7, 2023. (Photo by JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
The initial pause reportedly caught many officials in the State Department and White House by surprise, and Trump initially stood by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when asked about the pause on Thursday, according to NBC News. Trump said Monday during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Ukraine needs sufficient weaponry “to defend themselves.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been hesitant to come to the table for peace talks, which has drawn Trump’s ire and reportedly contributed to his apparent switch in attitude on giving Ukraine the batteries, according to Axios.
Shrinking U.S. weapons stockpiles has long been a concern for foreign policy and defense experts worried that the U.S. is depleting its reserves faster than they can be replenished.
Ukraine has received $66.9 billion worth of U.S. armaments from the start of the war in 2022 through March, according to the State Department.
Even though Trump is sending the missiles to Ukraine, the president is reportedly still skeptical of U.S. involvement in the war, telling his confidants that “this isn’t my war,” sources told Axios on Tuesday.
Russia has ramped up strikes on Ukraine, most recently launching massive drone swarms and missile strikes on Kiev overnight on Thursday. While missile and drone exchanges have become a part of daily life in the war, the frontlines have been relatively stagnant.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday any ceasefire would have to include Ukrainian disarmament.
The Pentagon referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the White House, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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