Last Updated:
The United States announced that it would pause all foreign aid for 90 days, except for the ones going to Israel and Egypt.
US President Donald Trump with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (AP File Image)
Amid reports that the new Donald Trump administration in the United States has halted foreign aid for 90 days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday said that the US has not “stopped” the military aid.
He thanked “god” while stating that the military aid, on which he is “focused” has not been stopped.
Zelenskyy Reacts To Trump Administration’s Decision
“I am focused on military aid; it has not been stopped, thank God,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu.
Ukraine is reliant on the US for 40% of its military requirements in the ongoing war against Russia since early 2022. Zelesnskyy, however, did not clarify if the humanitarian aid for his country was also paused by the Trump administration.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday announced that he would pause all foreign aid for 90 days except for the ones for Israel and Egypt.
“No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved,” Rubio said in an internal memo, as per AFP.
Zelenskyy reflected upon his relationship with Trump and said that he enjoyed “good meetings and conversations” with the US President and expressed hope that the Republican leader would succeed in ending the war.
“This can only be done with Ukraine, and otherwise it simply will not work because Russia does not want to end the war, and Ukraine does,” Zelenskyy claimed.
What Is Trump’s Take On Russia-Ukraine War?
Trump has repeatedly said that if he was the President in 2022, Russia would not have been able to invade Ukraine in 2022. Putin, on Friday, also claimed that the Ukraine crisis might not have emerged if Trump was the President.
“I cannot but agree with him that if he had been president — if his victory hadn’t been stolen in 2020 — then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that emerged in 2022,” Putin said.
The US President has frequently claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would not have occurred under his leadership. However, during his tenure, conflict escalated in eastern Ukraine between Kyiv’s forces and Moscow-backed separatists, prior to Putin deploying tens of thousands of troops in 2022.
In a Thursday interview with Fox News, Trump suggested that Zelenskyy should have negotiated a deal with Putin to prevent the war. Just a day earlier, he threatened to impose heavy tariffs and sanctions on Russia if a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine isn’t achieved.
