US President Donald Trump is considering a new indirect scheme for military aid to Ukraine: according to Axios sources, it involves selling American weapons to NATO allies on the condition that they transfer them to Kyiv.
According to sources close to the Trump administration, this model was discussed during a recent NATO summit. The idea is that Washington sells weapons to the Alliance countries without fixing their end use, and then the allies decide on their own whether to transfer them to Ukraine.
“ The US president is supplying defensive weapons to NATO. NATO can decide what to do with them. We are not supplying weapons to Ukraine ,” Axios quotes one of the US officials as saying.
According to the interlocutors, the scheme considers not only defensive, but also offensive weapons — that is, those weapons that were transferred in limited quantities or with delays during the Biden administration.
One of the European officials the publication spoke to confirmed the discussions, but stressed that there is no final plan or formal agreement yet. It is also unknown when such a scheme might be launched and to what extent.
The idea of indirect armament allows us to formally avoid direct US supplies to Ukraine, but at the same time not to leave Kyiv without support, at least at the level of allies.
In addition, Axios reports that Trump is studying options for new sanctions against Russia, including a package proposed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. However, a White House spokesman clarified that Trump will sign the document only if he receives “100% flexibility” in the issue of imposing and lifting sanctions. In other words, he insists on full control over the mechanism of restrictions.
