President Trump is expected to announce on Monday a new arms supply for Ukraine, including more advanced Patriot missile defense batteries, that NATO member countries will pay for. The NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, who has been coordinating the plan, is expected to join Mr. Trump for the announcement in Washington.
Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday that he would send the missiles to Ukraine to help defend the country against Russia’s invasion, and again criticized President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, saying he “talks nice but then he bombs everyone in the evening.”
Mr. Trump has expressed increasing disappointment and anger with Mr. Putin over Russia’s refusal to agree to a cease-fire more than three years after its full-scale invasion and has at times threatened to impose new sanctions on Moscow. So far he has not done so, although he is being pressed by allies like Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. Mr. Graham, a strong advocate of helping Ukraine to defend itself, has cosponsored a bipartisan bill that would hit the Russian economy hard in hopes of pressuring Moscow to end the war.
Mr. Rutte has been coordinating the purchase of American weapons by other NATO member states to supply to Ukraine after it became clear that Mr. Trump was unwilling to provide any more through direct aid. Mr. Trump has not blocked the sending of American weapons to Kyiv under an aid package that Congress authorized during former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s term. That money is expected to run out later this summer.
On Sunday, Mr. Trump said that the United States would send Ukraine the Patriots “they desperately need.” The number was under discussion, he added. “But the European Union will pay us 100 percent for them,” he said, which is not strictly accurate, given that individual member countries will pay, not the European Union or NATO itself. Of the 27 E.U. nations, 23 are also members of NATO.
Boris Pistorius, Germany’s minister of defense, will also be in Washington to meet with his American counterpart, Pete Hegseth, as will Mr. Rutte. Germany has offered to buy two Patriot systems to give to Ukraine, while Norway has offered to purchase one. The Patriot system is both expensive and in short supply, but it is thought to be the only effective defense against Russia’s best ballistic and hypersonic missiles, which have been clobbering Ukrainian cities and infuriating Mr. Trump.
In addition to Mr. Trump and Mr. Hegseth, Mr. Rutte was also set to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio and members of Congress, including Mr. Graham.
Steven Erlanger is the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe and is based in Berlin. He has reported from over 120 countries, including Thailand, France, Israel, Germany and the former Soviet Union.
The post Trump Is Expected to Announce New Weapons Pipeline for Ukraine appeared first on New York Times.
