Trump announces plan to sell NATO countries weapons for Ukraine

WASHINGTON — “Very unhappy” with Russia, President Donald Trump today announced the constructs of a new plan that revolves around selling US weapons to European nations that will be passed off to Ukraine.

“I’m disappointed in President [Vladimir] Putin, because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there,” Trump said in the Oval Office today alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

“We made a deal today where we are going to be sending them [NATO] weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them,” Trump later added. “The United States will not be having any payment made.”

These weapons will include new Patriot batteries and PAC-3 interceptors, Trump said, alongside a host of other equipment. Those critical air defenses, he added, could begin arriving in Ukraine within days.

Rutte explained that NATO plans to work with Ukrainian officials on just what they need. Then, European nations could potentially buy weapons for Kyiv or send weapons in their inventory and backfill them later with replacement US weapons.

“This is building on the tremendous success of the NATO Summit, the 5 percent but also the decision to keep Ukraine strong and the decision to increase our defense industrial production,” Rutte said.

“This is, again, Europeans stepping up. … This is only the first wave, there will be more,” he added.

Today’s announcement comes after nearly six months of uncertainty about US support for Ukraine.

Ahead of taking his second oath of office in January 2025, Trump had vowed to end the war between Russia and Ukraine on his first day. Since then, the US has not announced any new weapons packages to Ukraine and even temporarily paused the delivery of weapons already promised to the Kyiv.

But nearly six months in and without a ceasefire in place, Trump has soured on Putin’s interest in ending the conflict.

“My conversations with him are always very pleasant … and then the missiles go off that night,” Trump said of his calls with Putin.

“I go home, I tell the First Lady, ‘I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.’ She said, ‘Oh, really, another city was just hit,’ Trump added.

Today’s announcement is expected to bring a windfall for US defense firms. In a note to investors, TD Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer noted that US foreign military sales are trending at a “historic pace” with 22 percent tied to NATO members. This new plan, he added, will “increase that even further.”