US President Donald Trump will announce a new arms plan for Ukraine on Monday, July 14, which is expected to include offensive weapons. This was reported by Axios, citing two sources familiar with the US President's plans.
The possible provision of offensive weapons will be a significant change for Trump, who until recently said that he would provide only defensive weapons to avoid escalating the conflict.
American, Ukrainian and European officials hope that these weapons will change the trajectory of the war and change russian dictator vladimir putin's calculations about a ceasefire.
Two sources told the publication that they have reason to believe that the plan will likely include long-range missiles that can reach targets deep inside russian territory, including Moscow. However, neither of them knows about the final decision.
"Trump is very angry with putin. His statement will be very aggressive," Senator Lindsey Graham told Axios in an interview.
The new initiative is expected to be presented at a meeting between Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. It would involve European countries paying for American-made weapons that will be sent to Ukraine.
The White House has not yet responded to a request for official comment.
According to the publication, such a scheme was proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a NATO summit two weeks ago. American and Ukrainian officials said that this meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy at the summit was the best yet.
At the same time, Trump has become increasingly frustrated over the past two weeks with putin's unwillingness to move towards a ceasefire and the escalation of russian attacks on Kyiv and other cities. The publication emphasized that one of the factors that convinced Trump to go this way was a phone call on July 3, during which putin made it clear that he planned to continue the war. In the following days, the weapons development plan turned from an idea into something more concrete.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Politico, citing two anonymous sources, reported that Donald Trump is considering providing a new military aid package for Ukraine worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The aid shipment came a week after the Pentagon abruptly stopped part of the previously allocated weapons, which included thousands of artillery shells and precision-guided munitions.
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