US President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. Photo: SAUL LOEB
US President Donald Trump is ordering military aid to Ukraine to be paused after his Friday Oval Office argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a White House official told CNN Monday.
"The President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution," the White House official said.
Another official said the pause will apply to all military equipment not yet inside Ukraine.
The pause is a direct response to what Trump views as Zelensky's bad behaviour last week, the official said. They noted that a pause could be lifted if Zelensky demonstrates new commitment to negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
The White House made the decision to pause military aid to Ukraine for now as officials seek an acknowledgement from Zelensky about the breakdown in relations following Friday's blowup in the Oval Office.
According to several officials, Trump and his senior aides are seeking an acknowledgement from Zelensky - potentially in the form of a public apology - before moving ahead with the minerals deal, which had been close to agreement before Friday's meeting, or a discussion on continuing foreign aid. The decision to halt the aid was made later on Monday, one person said, and is part of a pressure strategy on Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is one official who has publicly called for Zelensky to apologize for Friday in an interview on CNN.
The pause comes one day after a defense official told CNN that military aid to Ukraine announced by the Biden administration was still flowing. Those shipments included critical munitions such as anti-tank weapons, thousands of artillery rounds, and rockets. Those shipments were expected to continue for several weeks, but the decision from the Trump administration freezes the aid that was en route.
"DoD is also providing other capabilities, such as armoured vehicles, as soon as required repairs are completed," the defense official said on Sunday. The US had set up facilities in Poland to repair Western equipment damaged on the battlefield before sending it back to the Ukrainian military.
There are also multiple longer-term contracts between arms manufacturers and the US to send weapons systems and air defense systems to Ukraine.
CNN's Kevin Liptak, Oren Liebermann and Kaitlan Collins contributed to this report.
- CNN
