Ukrainian MP on US aid halt: Reserves enough for six months, alternatives sought
Photo: Fedir Venislavskyi (Getty Images)
A closed-door meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence considered a negative scenario with the possible termination of US military assistance to Ukraine, MP and member of the Rada's Defense Committee Fedir Venislavskyi told RBC-Ukraine.
Ukraine has a safety margin of about six months even without systemic support from the United States. However, the situation will become much more complicated, so the government is working to find alternative sources of critical weapons.
“Over the past three years, our military-industrial complex has gained quite a lot of capacity and is able to neutralize threats and risks,” Venislavskyi said.
In the meantime, he acknowledged that only the United States can supply some types of weapons, such as air defense systems and long-range precision-guided missile systems.
For now, the main goal is to provide the Ukrainian air defense forces with enough means to repel air attacks, as well as to find ways to replace critical American weapons.
“I think that Ukraine definitely has a safety margin of about six months even without systematic assistance from the United States, but it will be much more difficult, of course. Therefore, everyone is now working - the president's team, the Verkhovna Rada, and our committee - to consider options for compensating for this quantity and quality of weapons that the United States may stop or have already stopped providing us with,” Venislavskyi said.
Trump has canceled aid to Ukraine
Bloomberg, citing a source in the Pentagon, wrote recently that US President Donald Trump had ordered a halt to all military aid to Ukraine. He ordered US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to pause the process.
It means that all US military equipment that is not currently in Ukraine will be suspended, including weapons that are on the way on airplanes and ships, or that are waiting to be shipped in transit zones in Poland.
Later, the White House confirmed that US President Donald Trump was suspending military aid to Ukraine after a spat with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
