Trump bends the knee to Putin while stabbing Ukraine in the back

In an act of stunning shortsightedness and an alarming lack of transparency, President Donald Trump’s administration has quietly halted critical shipments of weapons to Ukraine, blindsiding allies, Congress and much of his own national security apparatus. The move, reportedly driven by Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy, lacks both strategic foresight and moral clarity. It sends a dangerous signal to the Kremlin that America’s commitment to Ukraine is wavering just when Russia is escalating its campaign of brutality.

For a president who once promised to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine, Trump’s uncoordinated freeze on aid undermines not only that promise but also U.S. leadership on the global stage. This pause in aid was neither deliberated transparently nor coordinated with key stakeholders in the administration, Congress or among America’s allies. Instead, it emerged as a policy by ambush, an opaque decision with life-and-death consequences. Perhaps not coincidentally, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a long phone call last week, for which no detailed read-out was provided. Our obedient president continues to play the beta to Putin’s alpha and gives the Russian dictator whatever he wants.

Disturbingly, the arms shipments had already been funded and approved by Congress and were en route when they were halted without warning. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European allies and congressional leaders — including those on the House Intelligence Committee — expressed disbelief after learning about the decision from media reports.

The logic behind the freeze, the need to assess current weapons stockpiles and ensure that weapons aid to foreign nations aligns with Trump’s “America First” agenda, seems defensible in isolation. But the timing of this pause, as Russia escalates its assault on Ukrainian cities, effectively grants Putin a tactical advantage. Among the suspended shipments are the very Patriot missile interceptors that shield Ukrainian civilians from daily aerial terror.

On Friday, Kyiv endured the largest aerial assault against the city to date, as Russia launched a record 539 drones and 11 cruise and ballistic missiles against the Ukrainian capital in just 13 hours.

In the past week, approximately 1,200 drones, 40 missiles and almost 1,000 powerful glide bombs have been launched at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.

While Patriot defense systems have proven incredibly effective defensively, a single incoming Russian missile can have devastating consequences. Twenty-one people were killed in Dnipro recently when a single missile made it through Ukraine’s defensive perimeter. Another missile left an apartment block in Kyiv smoldering and dozens of its residents dead or maimed.

This is not hypothetical. These are lives being lost because the world’s most powerful democracy wavered in its support. The deaths Trump is directly responsible for are growing to a mountain of innocent bodies: civilians in Ukraine, children swept away in Texas floods, millions of children soon starving because of USAID cuts.

Now, the pause in weapons shipments and the knowledge that Ukraine may be running low on munitions risks emboldening Putin even further.

The Institute for the Study of War has noted that every past delay in U.S. support has been followed by Russian advances. When the U.S. paused intelligence sharing earlier this year, Russian troops moved forward in Kursk. When aid lagged in 2023 and 2024, Russia took Avdiivka. The evidence is overwhelming: hesitation equals escalation. Putin gloats as Trump grovels.

The administration has tried to spin the pause as a routine reassessment of stockpiles in light of U.S. readiness and ongoing tensions in the Middle East and Asia. That concern is legitimate, but it is also a smokescreen. Transparency and coordination are essential in matters of war and if the U.S. truly faced a crisis in munitions supply, the answer should have been to urgently ramp up domestic production and engage in a dialogue with Ukraine about the availability of supplies — not pull the rug out from under an ally mid-battle.

Europe has stepped up, with the EU now providing more military aid to Ukraine than the U.S. But certain weapons, especially the Patriot system, remain uniquely American in supply and effectiveness.

Simultaneously, Putin is reiterating his resolve. In a phone call last week, Putin continued to offer blatant lies and false justifications for Russia’s invasion of a sovereign neighbor. The Russian leader also reiterated his refusal to back down from his war aims. In parroting such justifications in the past, Trump has flirted dangerously with legitimizing Moscow’s aggression. Now, by withholding weapons, he gives substance to those sympathies and undermines Ukraine’s ability to resist.

The Ukrainian people have made unimaginable sacrifices. They have asked for little more than the means to defend their skies, their cities and their children. To pause that support is, as one Ukrainian official put it, “inhumane.”

Trump came to office pledging to end the war in Ukraine — a promise he has failed at spectacularly. Now, instead of a negotiated peace that brings justice to the people of Ukraine and preserves their sovereignty, Trump is pursuing capitulation. By pausing arms shipments, Trump has increased the risk of escalation, fueled uncertainty among allies and given Putin a strategic victory.

Congress must reiterate its continued support for the people of Ukraine and Trump must reverse this decision. If he is serious about ending the war, he should know that appeasement is not a shortcut to peace, it is an invitation to more death and destruction.