President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. will have to send more weapons to Ukraine, just days after ordering a pause in critical weapons deliveries to Kyiv.
The comments by 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 defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons amid U.S. concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much.
“We have to," Trump told reporters about additional weapons deliveries for Ukraine. “They have to be able to defend themselves.”
Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least 11 civilians and injured more than 80 others, including seven children, officials said Monday.
The move to abruptly pause shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds and weaponry took Ukrainian officials and other allies by surprise.
The pause had come at a difficult moment for Ukraine, which has faced increasing, and more complex, air barrages from Russia during the more than three-year-long war.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the paused weapons shipments to Ukraine would resume.
Trump maintains he's determined to quickly conclude a conflict that he had promised as candidate to end of Day One of his second term.
Trump, speaking at the start of a dinner he was hosting for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday evening, vented his growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump has struggled to find a resolution to the the brutal war.
“I’m not happy with President Putin at all," Trump said.
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Chaos in the skies
In a separate development, Russian’s transport minister was found dead in what authorities said was an apparent suicide — news that broke hours after the Kremlin announced he had been dismissed by 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 canceled 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.
Russia fired more than 100 drones at civilian areas of Ukraine overnight, authorities said.
Russia recently has intensified its airstrikes on civilian areas after more than three years of war. In the past week, Russia launched some 1,270 drones, 39 missiles and almost 1,000 powerful glide bombs at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
Russia’s bigger army is also trying hard to break through at some points along the roughly 620-mile front line, where Ukrainian forces are severely stretched.
Ukraine calls for more aid
The strain of keeping Russia’s invasion at bay, the lack of progress in direct peace talks, and last week’s halt of some promised U.S. weapons shipments have compelled Ukraine to seek more military help from the U.S. and Europe.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said earlier Monday that the pause in weapons to Ukraine came as part of a “standard review of all weapons and all aid” that the U.S. “is providing all countries and all regions around the world. Not just Ukraine.”
Leavitt said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the global review of weapons and aid to ensure that “everything that’s going out the door aligns with America’s interests.”
Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine had signed deals with European allies and a leading U.S. defense company to step up drone production, ensuring Kyiv receives “hundreds of thousands” more this year.
“Air defense is the main thing for protecting life,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram on Monday.
That includes developing and manufacturing interceptor drones that can stop Russia’s long-range Shahed drones, he said.
Extensive use of drones has also helped Ukraine compensate for its troop shortages on the front line.
One person was killed in the southern city of Odesa, another person was killed and 71 were injured in northeastern Kharkiv and falling drone debris caused damage in two districts of Kyiv, the capital, during nighttime drone attacks, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russian short-range drones also killed two people and injured two others in the northern Sumy region, officials said. Sumy is one of the places where Russia has concentrated large numbers of troops.
Also, nine people were injured and seven killed in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, regional head Vadym Filashkin said. He didn’t specify the weapons used.
More Russian long-range drone strikes Monday targeted military mobilization centers for the third time in five days, in an apparent attempt to disrupt recruitment, Ukraine’s Army Ground Forces command said.
Regional officials in Kharkiv and southern Zaporizhzhia said at least 17 people were injured.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday that its troops shot down 91 Ukrainian drones in 13 Russian regions overnight, as well as over the Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
