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Ukraine is ‘getting hit very hard now’, Trump says as he justifies his weapons reversal for Kyiv
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Donald Trump has reversed his decision on military assistance for Ukraine and said the US will have to send more weapons as the besieged nation was getting “hit very hard now”.
“We have to,” Mr Trump said, speaking to reporters at the White House. “They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons – defensive weapons primarily,” the US president said.
This comes as Russian former transport minister Roman Starovoit has been found dead hours after he was fired unexpectedly by Vladimir Putin.
“Today, the body of the former Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation, Roman Starovoit, was found with a gunshot wound in his personal car,” Russia‘s investigative committee said in a statement.
The committee implied that Starovoit took his own life, news which comes hours after Putin fired Starovoit in an unexpected move as Russia’s transport sector faces challenges.
Putin’s decree gave no reason for the dismissal of Starovoit after barely a year in the job. Starovoit was appointed transport minister in May 2024 after spending almost five years as governor of the Kursk region bordering Ukraine.
Russia’s transport minister has been found dead in what authorities said was an apparent suicide — news that broke hours after the Kremlin announced he had been dismissed by President Vladimir Putin.
The firing of Roman Starovoit followed a weekend of travel chaos when airports grounded hundreds of flights due to the threat of drone attacks from Ukraine, although Russian officials did not give a reason for his dismissal.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed at airports in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but Russian commentators said the air traffic disruptions have become customary amid frequent Ukrainian drone raids and were unlikely to have triggered his dismissal.
Starovoit, 53, served as Russia’s transport minister since May 2024. Russian media have reported that his dismissal could have been linked to an investigation into the embezzlement of state funds allocated for building fortifications in the Kursk region, where he served as governor before being appointed transportation minister.
The alleged embezzlement has been cited as one of the reasons for deficiencies in Russia’s defensive lines that failed to stem a surprise Ukrainian incursion in the region launched in August 2024.
Donald Trump has said the US will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after ordering a pause in critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Mr Trump said Ukraine was getting hit very hard by Russia and needed to be able to defend itself. The US would be sending primarily defensive weapons, he said.
“We have to,” Mr Trump said. “They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily,” the US president said.
The latest remarks by Mr Trump appeared to be an abrupt change in posture after the Pentagon announced last week that it would hold back delivering to Ukraine some air defence missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons because of what US officials said were concerns that stockpiles have declined too much.
The Pentagon has not issued a comment on whether the paused weapons shipments to Ukraine would resume.
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Ukraine war latest: Trump pledges weapons for Kyiv as ex-Russian minister found dead – The Independent
