President Donald Trump said that NATO will provide weapons to Ukraine.
Speaking to NBC News, Trump said, “We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%. So what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and NATO is paying for those weapons.”
“We send weapons to NATO, and NATO is going to reimburse the full cost of those weapons,” he explained.
The military alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, confirmed that he had spoken with President Trump and is “working closely with Allies to get Ukraine the help they need.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio similarly told reporters after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that countries that have “ordered Patriot batteries that are about to receive shipments of them, it’d be great if one of them volunteered to defer that shipment and send it to Ukraine instead.”
The news comes as the Trump administration prepared to provide weapons to Ukraine earlier this week.
“At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops,” a statement from the Pentagon read. “Our framework for POTUS to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities.”
Trump previously said that “Biden emptied out our whole country giving [Ukraine] weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.”
