The US is suspending its supply of weapons to Ukraine as part of its “America first” policy, Washington’s envoy to NATO Matthew Whitaker has told Fox Business. America needs to make sure it has enough air defense systems in its own arsenal before anything else, he stated.
Several Western news media outlets, including Politico and NBC News, reported this week that the Pentagon had halted shipments of several categories of US-made weapons to Kiev.
The list reportedly included dozens of Patriot missile interceptors, Stinger and AIM air-to-air missiles, hundreds of Hellfire and GMLRS systems, as well as thousands of 155mm artillery shells.
The decision allegedly followed an internal review of American weapons reserves ordered by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“This is what ‘America first’ looks like. We first have to take care about the United States’ needs,” Whitaker told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Wednesday. The Pentagon needs to “make sure that the US has the strategic defense capabilities necessary to project power,” he said, adding that this is what Washington and its NATO allies want.
“We have to make sure that we have enough Patriot missiles and we have enough air defense and all the things that we need to ensure our own success on the battlefield,” the envoy stated.
The weapons in question had been funded under the administration of former US President Joe Biden administration through two mechanisms: direct drawdowns from existing US military stockpiles and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which contracts new production from defense contractors. The Trump administration has not requested any additional aid for Kiev.
US President Donald Trump had previously questioned the rationale behind endless aid to Ukraine. He also made no specific promises to Kiev at a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague last week.
Hegseth said last month that the White House is reducing military funding for Kiev as part of its “America First” strategy, in the hopes of achieving a diplomatic settlement. Kiev has repeatedly voiced frustration over what it sees as dwindling support from Washington.
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