What does Trump stopping military aid to Ukraine mean

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - US, UK and Ukrainian flags are seen at a makeshift memorial for the fallen Ukrainian and foreign fighters on the Independence Square in Kyiv. — AFP pic

WASHINGTON, March 6 — US President Donald Trump has frozen military aid to Ukraine, just days after publicly confronting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House and accusing him of being insufficiently grateful for Washington’s backing. The halt to US military aid does not only have significant implications for the three-year-old war between Ukraine and Russian invasion forces. It will also impact the US defence industry. Here’s how:

How much has the US spent on military aid for Ukraine?

The United States has pledged and spent at least US$65 billion on military aid for Ukraine since Russia’s full-blown February 2022 invasion. Primarily, that assistance has been allocated through two tools: the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).

What is the presidential drawdown authority?

More than US$31 billion worth of weapons and equipment has been pledged to Ukraine under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the president to approve rapid transfers to foreign countries from US military stockpiles, without having to seek congressional approval. More than US$20 billion worth of weapons and equipment has already been shipped this way, according to a Reuters analysis.

Ukraine is still awaiting a large shipment of armored vehicles that are not set to be delivered until mid-2025, said a Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity. They are currently being refurbished at depots in Europe.

People walk by destroyed Russian military vehicles displayed in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine on March 4, 2025. — AFP pic

What is the Ukraine assistance initiative?

The US has bought nearly US$33.2 billion worth of new arms and military equipment for Kyiv directly from US and allied defence contractors. That money was allocated by Congress. The USAI is a longer-term approach to arming Ukraine. It will take years for all these weapons to be manufactured and shipped to the battlefield. This category of weapon provides Ukraine a sustained pipeline of modern weaponry and simultaneously sustained revenue for manufacturers. The amount of aid that still needs to be delivered from the American contracts is “significantly less than 15 per cent”, a Ukrainian official said. Some of the weapons still to be delivered include advanced rocket launchers and missiles.

How does this affect US companies?

The halt to USAI not only impacts current orders, but also future production plans and investment decisions for US companies such as L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin Corp, RTX Corp and General Dynamics.

It’s unlikely that the US government would cancel the orders for Ukraine that have not yet been delivered. It could decide to keep those weapons for itself.

Washington needs to replenish its own stocks and — instead of placing new orders — could instead keep the weapons that were bound for Ukraine, essentially reducing the future amount of new contracts on offer to US companies.

What weapons have been delivered to Ukraine?

Among the weapons and equipment provided during the war are US-made F-16 fighter jets, long-range ATACM missiles, High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), short-range air defence interceptors, replacement vehicles, air-to-ground munitions, and artillery. — Reuters