Russia welcomes US pause in military aid to Ukraine

Moscow — The Kremlin said on Tuesday that pausing US military aid to Ukraine would be the best contribution to the cause of peace, but cautioned that Russia needed to clarify the details of the move by US President Donald Trump.

Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine after his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, a White House official said, deepening the fissure that has opened between the one-time allies.

Trump, who spoke to Putin on February 12 and says he wants to be remembered as a “peacemaker”, has upended US policy on the war in Ukraine, which he says risks igniting World War 3. Trump also says Kyiv has no cards left to play.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was cautious on reports of a pause in US aid and said the details needed to be seen.

“If this is true, then this is a decision that can really encourage the Kyiv regime to (come to) the peace process,” Peskov said.

“It is obvious that the US has been the main supplier of this war so far. If the US stops being (an arms supplier) or suspends these supplies, it will probably be the best contribution to the cause of peace.”

Peskov said that Russia welcomed Trump’s statements about his wish for peace in Ukraine.

“We hear his statement about his desire to bring peace to Ukraine, and this is welcome. We see certain things and receive certain information about the proposed actions in this direction. This is also welcome. But we will continue to see how the situation develops in reality,” Peskov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022, triggering the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the depths of the Cold War.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after a pro-Russian president was toppled in Ukraine's Maidan Revolution and Russia annexed Crimea, with Russian-backed separatist forces fighting Ukraine’s armed forces.

Russia currently controls just under a fifth of Ukraine, or about 113,000km² of Ukraine while Ukraine controls about 450km² of Russia, according to open source maps of the war and Russian estimates.

Reuters