A Reversal in U.S. Ukraine Policy: Trump Administration Resumes Military Support
The U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) recently announced that the U.S. State Department has approved a potential sale of military equipment and services to Ukraine worth a total of 203.5 million dollars. The statement specified that spare parts, maintenance services, and logistical support for M777 howitzers and related equipment are valued at 104 million dollars, while transport services and associated equipment constitute a potential sale worth approximately 99.5 million dollars.
Previously, on July 23–24, 2025, the DSCA had also issued notifications for additional approvals involving Ukraine, including sales of M109 self-propelled howitzer systems, air defense systems, MIM-23 HAWK Phase III missile systems, and modernization, maintenance, and spare parts support for M2A2 Bradley armored fighting vehicles, with a total value of 652 million dollars.
These recent notifications, coming after nearly a three-month pause in U.S. military support to Ukraine, indicate a shift and return in the Trump Administration’s Ukraine policy. From the moment it took office, the Trump Administration made bold statements that the ongoing Ukraine-Russia War would be brought to an end through a negotiated settlement between the parties, and accordingly, initiated a series of changes in U.S. policy toward Ukraine.
The war that began in 2022 between Ukraine and Russia has evolved beyond a regional conflict into a geopolitical struggle shaping global power dynamics. As one of the most influential external actors in this war, the United States had provided Ukraine with significant military, logistical, and political support over the past three years. However, from early 2025, a noticeable slowdown in this support policy emerged. With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, aid to Ukraine began to be questioned. The Trump administration threatened to suspend arms shipments in an effort to pressure Ukraine into peace, aiming to end the war through aggressive diplomatic measures.
This strategy by Trump was essentially an attempt to give Russian President Vladimir Putin a diplomatic “chance.” By pressuring Ukraine, the U.S. administration hoped to bring Moscow to the negotiating table and reach an agreement that would end the war. However, by July 2025, it became clear that these expectations had largely gone unmet. Believing that Putin remained distant from peaceful solutions in order to gain more ground on the battlefield and had not sincerely embraced this opportunity, the Trump Administration appears to have decided to abandon its pressure campaign on Kyiv to force a peace deal.
