The U.S. isn’t interested in open-ended funding for Ukraine amid ongoing peace talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, according to the White House.
President Donald Trump, who ruled out sending U.S. troops on the ground to support Ukraine, is very ‘sensitive to the needs of the American taxpayer,’ according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
‘He made it very clear that we’re not going to continue writing blank checks to fund a war very far away, which is why he came up with a very creative solution to have NATO purchase American weaponry, because it is the best in the world, and then to backfill the needs of the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian people in their military,’ Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.
‘So that’s the solution the president has come up with. We’ll continue to see that forward,’ Leavitt said. ‘As for any additional sales, I’ll have to refer you to the Department of Defense.’
Congress has passed several pieces of legislation to support Ukraine, totaling at least $175 billion in spending to aid it since February 2022, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Meanwhile, Trump approved a deal in July allowing European allies to purchase U.S. weapons, like Patriot missile defense systems, for Ukraine.
The Trump administration’s defense budget proposal did not allocate any funding to purchase weapons for Ukraine, nor did the House defense appropriations bill passed in July. Even so, the Senate’s version of the measure that the upper chamber is slated to consider later in 2025 includes $800 million toward the program.
Leavitt’s comments echo ones made by Vice President JD Vance, who said Aug. 10 following meetings with European officials in the U.K. that he communicated to European leaders that the U.S. is ‘done with the funding of the Ukraine war business,’ and that European allies must take one greater responsibility in ending the conflict.
‘What we said to Europeans is simply, first of all, this is in your neck of the woods, this is in your back door,’ Vance said in an interview with Fox News. ‘You guys have got to step up and take a bigger role in this thing, and if you care so much about this conflict you should be willing to play a more direct and a more substantial way in funding this war yourself.’
On Monday, Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House, where they discussed various security measures to prevent Russian aggression against Ukraine again. However, Trump said Tuesday that sending U.S. troops to Ukraine to beef up security in the region was off the table.
‘The president has definitively stated, U.S. boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine, but we can certainly help in the coordination and perhaps provide other means of security guarantees to our European allies,’ Leavitt said. ‘The president understands security guarantees are crucially important to ensure a lasting peace, and he has directed his national security team to coordinate with our friends in Europe, and also to continue to cooperate and discuss these matters with Ukraine and Russia as well.’
