By Sabine Siebold
WIESBADEN, Germany, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Arms supplies to Ukraine have not dropped following a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to stop direct donations to Ukraine, a senior NATO military official said.
After coming to office in January, the Trump administration only sold weapons or shipped donations to Ukraine that had already been authorized by former President Joe Biden, who was a staunch supporter of Kyiv.
Then from the autumn, under a mechanism developed by the U.S. and its allies, called the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, Ukraine has been supplied with weapons from U.S. stocks using funds from NATO countries.
Asked if there had been a drop in military supplies since Trump stopped donations, Major General Maik Keller, deputy commander of NATO’s Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU), said: “No, nothing.”
“There was no pause… it was just continuing and it’s not that the U.S. exactly waits until it is paid for. As soon as one (PURL) package is announced, the flow of material is starting,” he told Reuters.
“We found a lot of European nations actually contributing to the funding.”
‘ENOUGH TO KEEP UKRAINE IN THE FIGHT’
Under Biden, the U.S. had been Kyiv’s single largest military donor. NATO’s secretary general said this month allies and partners had committed over $4 billion so far under the new scheme.
Ukraine remains heavily reliant on U.S. weapons, nearly four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Fighting is raging along more than 1,200 km in Ukraine’s east, south, and north, as talks to end the war continue.
NATO’s Ukraine mission has been coordinating arms supplies to Kyiv since December 2024, matching Kyiv’s needs in terms of weapons, equipment and training with offers received from donor countries in NATO and outside the Western alliance.
The United States still provides NSATU’s commander and part of its personnel.
Speaking at NSATU’s Wiesbaden headquarters, Keller said the mission had channelled some 220,000 tons of military aid to Kyiv in 2025, amounting to around 9,000 trucks, 1,800 railway wagons and 500 aircraft packed with weapons, ammunition and other material. There was no annual comparison as NSATU only took up coordination a year ago.
“It’s never enough. But at least it’s enough to keep Ukraine in the fight,” he said.
“Ukraine is able to hold the frontline, to defend the skies to the extent possible. And that shows us that we had good support but, of course, it can always be more.”
SECOND SUPPLY HUB IN ROMANIA
While most aid is currently funnelled through a hub in the Polish town of Rzeszow, Keller said a second hub in Romania was expected to come under NATO command by the end of January.
The general identified air defences, artillery, anti-tank mines, electronic warfare capabilities and deep strike weapons that can hit Russian airfields or refineries far beyond the frontline as Ukraine’s most pressing needs.
The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act signed by Trump on Thursday provided $800 million for Ukraine – $400 million in each of the next two years – as part of the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays U.S. companies for weapons for Ukraine’s military.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold;Editing by Alison Williams)
