In the wake of Friday’s disastrous press event with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, President Donald Trump has issued orders on American aid to Ukraine.
Trump, who got into a heated, public argument with Zelensky on Friday during the nearly hour-long event inside the Oval Office, has decided to halt all aid to the war-torn Eastern European country. Officials in the Trump administration, however, insist the pause is not permanent.
“This is not permanent termination of aid, it’s a pause,” an official inside the administration told Lucas Tomlinson of Fox News. “The orders are going out right now.”
Trump’s orders are, instead, aimed at getting Ukraine to be more cooperative with peace efforts, with the official telling Fox News that the pause is until “the Ukrainians show a commitment to good faith peace negotiations.”
Earlier today, it was announced that the Trump administration was freezing weapons financing to Ukraine.
READ MORE: Trump Pauses Weapons Financing for Ukraine
The U.S. president appears dead-set in making peace talks between Russia and Ukraine happen, while Zelensky is adamant that the U.S. and her allies must step up aid to combat the Russian aggression. Today’s pause on financing arms and now a total freeze on aid appear to be part of an attempt to convince Ukraine into coming to the table.
