Military aid increase to Ukraine marks a shift in White House policy toward Russia

The Pentagon and U.S. military officials in Europe are working with NATO members to ship more Patriot missile systems to Ukraine, and release more munitions that were briefly halted.

On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with his German counterpart, Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius, and “discussed how to help set conditions for an end to the war in Ukraine and on terms that support an enduring peace,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell in a statement released today.

NATO said in a release it is now working on what it called “substantial military equipment packages,” including air defense systems, missiles and ammunition. “This is Europe stepping up,” said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, noting commitments from Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada, with more expected to follow.

President Trump said in a meeting with Rutte that NATO would provide its own Patriot systems and then buy additional ones from the U.S.

“You have very wealthy countries buying the best equipment in the world, and we have the best equipment in the world,” Trump said on Monday. “We make equipment like no other.”

Meanwhile, a separate NATO official not authorized to speak publicly on the state of military aid said shipments of U.S. armaments paused by the Pentagon are now flowing into Ukraine from Poland.

Russia meanwhile continued to pummel Ukrainian cities overnight with some 267 drones and Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 244 of them, according to Ukrainian military officials. Russia continued its nightly bombardment shortly after Trump announced his decision to supply Ukraine with new military equipment and threatened further economic measures against Moscow.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces downed at least 70 Ukrainian drones overnight into Tuesday morning. Among the areas targeted were the southwestern Voronezh region which borders northeastern Ukraine. At least 24 people were injured there, Gov. Aleksandr Gusev said on Telegram.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would make a decision about how to respond to Trump.

“The U.S. president’s statements are very serious,” Peskov told reporters during a daily briefing. “Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin. We definitely need time to analyze what was said in Washington.”

Blumenthal said Trump’s evolution on Russia and the war and his willingness to send more weapons, is “a remarkable shift” and reflects his frustration with Putin and his unwillingness to negotiate.

“And clearly there is a personal element,” Blumenthal said, “the sense of betrayal, but also a clear understanding that Russians are mercilessly and murderously continuing to bomb and attack civilians, hospitals, homes.

The Federation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, said increasing the weapons flow to Ukraine also helps American industry and sends a message beyond Kyiv and Moscow.

“In concert with tougher sanctions on the Kremlin, supporting Kyiv while expanding U.S. defense production and stockpiles is a wise, sustainable, and necessary strategy to secure American interests, compel Putin to negotiate seriously, and deter new aggression in Europe or the Pacific.”