The U.S. halts military aid to Ukraine. Ukraine strikes oil and gas facilities in Russia. Ukraine strikes oil and gas facilities in Russia. Ukraine will meet all of its needs in artillery domestically this year, the Prime Minister says.
U.S. halts military aid to Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a pause to all U.S. military aid to Ukraine after his Friday Oval Office argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. The U.S. is holding up all pending military assistance until Trump determines Ukraine’s leaders demonstrate a good-faith commitment to peace, according to a senior Defense Department official cited by Bloomberg.
The order applies to all U.S. military equipment not currently in Ukraine, including weapons in transit on aircraft and ships or waiting in transit areas in Poland.
Trump has ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to execute the pause.
A senior administration official said all of Trump’s top national security advisers agreed with the decision to pause the aid after several meetings on the issue, according to the Wall Street Journal. The White House didn’t announce under what conditions the U.S. would resume military aid.
According to several officials cited by CNN, Trump and his senior aides are seeking an acknowledgement from Zelenskyi — potentially in the form of a public apology — before moving ahead with a deal on Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, which had been close to agreement before Friday’s meeting, or a discussion on continuing foreign aid.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed on Tuesday that U.S. weapons supplies via Rzeszow-Jasionka, a key airport near the Ukrainian border, had halted.
He said there were no signs that reports of the U.S. aid pause were “just words,” adding that the news coming from the hub in Jasionka align with what was announced.
“This of course is putting Ukraine and Poland in a more difficult situation,” Tusk said in a statement, according to Bloomberg. “But we have to cope with this situation. So there is no point in being offended by reality here.”
The situation is serious and demands a concerted effort from the government, Tusk added as cited by Polish media.
Ukraine could likely sustain its current fighting pace for several weeks — perhaps until the start of the summer — before a U.S. pause would begin to have a major effect, Western officials said in the wake of the decision.
“The reality is that Ukraine is far less dependent on the United States for its day-to-day combat needs than it was a year ago,” said Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has visited Ukraine several times since the war started three years ago, The New York Times said.
But if the halt in deliveries went longer, Ukraine would lose its supply of some advanced weapons, including advanced air-defense systems, surface-to-surface ballistic missiles and long-range rocket artillery. The United States also provides Ukraine with parts, maintenance and technical support.
Ukraine strikes oil, gas facilities in Russia
Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces in cooperation with other branches of the military conducted a series of strikes on Russian oil and gas transportation facilities in the Rostov and Samara regions overnight on Tuesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
Drones hit an oil pumping station in the Rostov region. The facility is involved in supplying the Russian army. There were powerful explosions and a fire erupted at the site, the General Staff said.
In the Samara region, production facilities of the Syzran oil refinery were hit. Russia used jamming equipment and air defenses to repel the attack, Ukraine’s military said. A fire broke out at the plant.
Explosions were reported near the Sokhranovka gas facility in the Rostov region.
The scale of the damage inflicted in the attack is being clarified, the General Staff said.
“Ukraine’s defense forces continue to make all efforts to undermine the military-economic potential of the Russian occupying [army] and force Russia into stopping its armed aggression against Ukraine,” the General Staff added.
Ukraine to meet all of its needs in artillery domestically this year, Prime Minister says
Ukraine will be able to produce enough artillery shells to meet 100 per cent of its needs this year, the country’s Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal told a news conference Tuesday. Ukrainian manufacturers are ramping up production of artillery projectiles, he added.
Ukraine-produced 155mm, 122mm and 105mm artillery munitions will cover a large share of the battlefield needs.
Ukraine assembles all types of drones it needs. The nation is almost self-sufficient in producing 80mm and 120mm mortar shells. There are other items, including vehicles. Shmyhal also shared that Ukraine is working to enhance the production capacity for Victory Weapons — domestically produced arms on a classified list.
Ukraine’s partners can also finance local production of weapons. The “Danish model,” as it is being called, has delivered USD one billion of locally manufactured weapons to Ukraine’s military.
Shmyhal declined to comment on how Ukraine will fill the gap now the U.S. has cut military support, but reassured the audience that there is a plan in place. At the same time, some of the weapons, like missiles for Patriot air defense systems, cannot be replaced either by Ukraine or its partners.
Ukraine now operates a dozen types of air defense systems, Shmyhal said. It also uses locally produced electronic warfare systems and drone hunting teams to shoot down drones, sparing expensive missiles.
Ukraine has some missiles for Patriot systems in stock, but hopes for a solution to unblock future supplies. The Patriot is the only system that effectively intercepts ballistic missiles, he said.
