WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has said the United States will send additional weapons to Ukraine, prompting criticism from Moscow amid fresh Russian advances in the ongoing war.
The Kremlin on Tuesday warned that increased Western arms supplies would only prolong the conflict, a day after Trump’s pledge for “more weapons” for Ukraine to defend itself.
“It is obvious, of course, that these actions probably do not align with attempts to promote a peaceful resolution,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying in a briefing.
Trump’s announcement to send weapons to Ukraine on Monday followed Washington saying last week that it was halting some weapons shipments to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian officials caught off guard and scrambling for clarity.
“We’re going to have to send more weapons — defensive weapons primarily,” Trump told journalists at the White House.
“They’re getting hit very, very hard,” he said of Ukraine, while adding that he was “not happy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump has reportedly promised to immediately send 10 Patriot interceptors — anti-missile systems — to Ukraine, according to US news website Axios.
Russia claims advances in Ukraine
The US president’s pledge to ship more arms to Ukraine came after Moscow said Monday that its forces captured their first village in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region after advancing towards it for months.
Russia launched a fresh large-scale drone and missile barrage before the announcement, including on Ukraine’s military recruitment centres.
Kyiv also said it carried out a drone attack on a Russian ammunition factory in the Moscow region.
Russia said its forces captured the village of Dachne in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an important industrial mining territory.
Last month, Moscow said its forces had crossed the border into the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in the war.
Russian forces appear to have made crossing the regional border a key strategic objective in recent months, and deeper advances there could pose logistical and economic problems for Ukraine.
Kyiv has so far denied any Russian foothold in Dnipropetrovsk.
Ukraine’s military said earlier Monday its forces “repelled” attacks in Dnipropetrovsk, including “in the vicinity” of Dachne.
Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea — that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.
Counting on partners
The White House said last week it was halting some key weapons shipments to Ukraine that were promised under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, without providing details on which weapons programmes were affected.
It said the decision was taken after a review of US defence needs and of its military assistance to foreign countries.
Kyiv has long feared halts to US aid after Trump returned to the White House in January, having criticised the tens of billions of dollars in support and weapons sent by Biden.
Under the Biden administration, Washington committed to providing more than $65 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.
Trump has announced no new military aid packages for Kyiv since taking office for the second time.
The Republican president instead has pushed the two sides into peace talks, including in phone calls with Putin.
Ahead of Trump’s remarks on Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said air defence remained the “top priority for protecting lives,” and his country was counting on partners to “fully deliver on what we have agreed.”
