By Valeriy Chaly, Former Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States
And once again, the pendulum swings... political, bureaucratic, emotional. One moment we're grateful, the next we're cursing them with the harshest words...
President Donald Trump said that arms deliveries to Ukraine must be resumed. Someone had previously blocked them, then someone unblocked them but sent them to the wrong place… We’ve seen all this before. More than once. These are all political decisions, but under U.S. law, deliberately halting arms deliveries after a Congressional decision is grounds for starting impeachment proceedings against the President and, sooner or later, prison for the responsible bureaucrat.
The decision is the right one. Even better would have been to not give Russian forces the opportunity to exploit the pause for massive airstrikes on civilians... But the problem hasn’t gone away.
All these "situational maneuvers" are only possible until the end of the fiscal year—until the end of September (in reality, just two months of supplies remain). And the money, by the way, will remain but can be annulled.
So what happens after that?
The current U.S. defense budget draft contains no funding for Ukraine. Other legislative initiatives currently stand no chance of passing. Discussions mention possible allocations for 2026—a maximum of $800 million. There is no Lend-Lease, no aid packages, and frankly, none are likely.
So instead of emotionally rattling the already frayed nerves of our fellow citizens—shattered by Russian attacks—let’s focus on finding real solutions for financing defense after October 1 of this year.
