Soon after Russia claimed new gains in its war against Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced that more weapons would be sent to Ukraine — despite Washington having stated just last week that it had paused arms shipments to Kyiv.
The halt in arms deliveries posed a potentially serious challenge for Kyiv in the Russia–Ukraine war, which has been ongoing for more than three years. Ukraine has been continuously facing Russian missile and drone attacks.
“We will have to send more weapons, mainly defensive ones,” President Trump told reporters at the White House. “They (the Ukrainians) have been hurt very, very badly.” Trump, who has recently been pushing for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, also stated that he is currently “not happy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Although Russian President Putin had reportedly shown willingness to end the war, which began in 2022, under pressure from Trump, the U.S. President announced additional arms for Ukraine after Moscow claimed on Monday that its forces had captured the village of Dachne in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region.
Prior to Trump’s announcement, Russia had launched large-scale drone and missile attacks targeting Ukrainian military recruitment centers. Meanwhile, Kyiv claimed it had carried out a drone strike on a Russian ammunition factory located in the Moscow region. The village of Dachne, which Russia claims to have taken, is a key industrial mining area in Ukraine.
Last month, Russian security forces were reported to have crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time. The presence of Russian troops in this area is seen as a potential threat that could create logistical and economic challenges for Ukraine.
However, Kyiv has denied the presence of Russian forces in Dnipropetrovsk. The Ukrainian military has claimed that it has “resisted” Russian attacks in Dnipropetrovsk, including in the village of Dachne. Dnipropetrovsk is not among the five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea — that Russia has claimed or partially occupied.
Moscow has publicly claimed these five regions as part of Russian territory. Ukrainian military expert Oleksii Kopytko described the situation in Dnipropetrovsk as “difficult” for Kyiv’s forces, stating that Russia appears to be attempting to establish some form of buffer zone in the area. However, he added, “Our troops are maintaining their positions quite steadily.”
Last week, the White House revealed that President Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, had halted the delivery of several major weapon systems previously pledged to Ukraine. Washington said the decision followed a review of U.S. defense needs and military assistance to foreign nations. Trump, who has long criticized Biden’s multibillion-dollar support for Ukraine, was seen as likely to scale back U.S. aid to Kyiv once he returned to the White House in January.
Under the Biden administration, Washington had pledged more than $65 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Since taking office for a second term, Trump has not announced any new military assistance packages for Kyiv. Instead, the Republican president has been exerting continuous pressure on both sides to engage in peace talks, including through direct phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Before Trump’s announcement on Monday that more weapons would be sent to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that air defense remained his country’s top priority for saving lives, and that Ukraine continues to rely on its international partners for support. In the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, explosions were heard from Monday night into Tuesday. Regional governor Vitaliy Kim reported that shelling on the outskirts of the city had caused a fire and injured a 51-year-old man.
