For the first time since the beginning of his second term, US President Donald Trump has agreed to sell more than $50 million worth of weapons to Ukraine. This was reported by the Kyiv Post, citing diplomatic sources.
According to the publication, on 30 April, the Trump administration informed Congress of its intention to approve the export of military goods to Ukraine through the Direct Commercial Sales mechanism. This includes the transfer of technical data and the provision of certain services.
This is the first such decision by Trump since his return to the White House. Earlier, from 2015 to 2023, the US approved exports of $1.6 billion worth of goods and services to Ukraine without widespread publicity.
Colby Budworth, a representative of the Tochnyi research group, noted that “all decisions on direct commercial sales are ‘quiet’ – they are not announced publicly… The news is that arms sales continue, although everything so far has indicated that Trump will cut off Ukraine from supplies altogether.”
The move came on the heels of the signing of a strategic agreement between Ukraine and the United States to establish a Recovery Investment Fund and a Critical Minerals Partnership. The United States stressed that the agreement “signals to the Russian leadership that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process focused on a free, sovereign Ukraine that will prosper for the long term”.