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Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky explodes into shouting match at the White House on February 28, 2025. Photo: VCG.

 
The White House confirmed on Monday that the Donald Trump administration has paused US military aid to Ukraine, according to multiple US media outlets, following a tense exchange between US and Ukrainian leaders at the Oval Office on Friday which has led to the shelving of the minerals deal signing.  

By wielding military aid as leverage, the US attempted to press Ukraine into resuming negotiations to finalize the minerals deal. However, this decision also risks further weakening an already fragile transatlantic relationship and Western unity, analysts said. 

Elaborating on the pause, a White House official said that "the president has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution," per the CNN.  

The White House had no immediate comment on the scope and amount of aid affected or how long the pause would last, Reuters said. The Associated Press said that the order will remain in effect until Trump determines that Ukraine has demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia, citing an official.

CNN described the halt as "the most material sign of how far the relationship has deteriorated since Trump took office." Some US officials told the media that the pause will "apply to all military equipment not yet inside Ukraine." 

The halt of military aid could be seen as a direct fallout from the recent clash between US and Ukrainian leaders, underscoring Trump's rage and his administration's hardline approach, said Zhang Hong, a research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.  

On the Truce Social platform on Monday local time, Trump posted an AP story headlined "Ukraine's Zelensky says end of war with Russia is 'very, very far away,'" describing it as "the worst statement" that could have been made by Zelensky, adding that "America will not put up with it for much longer."

The pause in aid is a calculated play to pressure Ukraine into signing the minerals deal through heightening Ukraine's security and diplomatic vulnerabilities, so as to recoup US' costs from the Biden era, said Zhang.

Simultaneously, the pause in aid also serves as a pointed warning to Europe: "Can you manage without America?" especially when Europe rally behind Zelensky in defiance of the US stance, said Zhang.  

After the recent public clash in the Oval Office with Trump, Zelensky traveled to London, where the Ukraine leader attended a summit that called for intensifying efforts to form a "coalition of the willing" to bolster Kiev.

In response to the US military aid suspension, the UK government reiterate its commitment to supporting Ukraine. Benjamin Haddad, the junior minister for Europe in the French government, said that the US decision to pause aid to Ukraine only "strengthens the hand of the aggressor," and makes peace "more distant," per the Guardian.  

Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine's parliamentary foreign affairs committee, told Reuters that the pause of aid "looks like he [Trump] is pushing us toward capitulation, meaning (accepting) Russia's demands."

While some analysts argue that Europe and Ukraine could still hold out in the battlefield without US assistance, others contend that Europe lacks a sustainable capability and strategy, leaving Ukraine exposed to significant long-term challenges.

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), in the event of a total cancellation of American military assistance to Ukraine, European nations would have to allocate an additional $100 billion to $350 billion to support Ukraine's military and enhance their own military-industrial capabilities.

As the US halted military aid to Ukraine, Washington is drawing up a proposal for lifting sanctions on select entities and individuals, including some Russian oligarchs, Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources. 

Far from aiming for a ceasefire, the Trump administration's overriding objective appears to be repairing ties with Russia, viewing strategic collaboration with Moscow as a means to bolster America's global dominance, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

This shift of Trump's attitude reveals that the coalition against Russia, that the Biden administration painstakingly forged, is now crumbling, the expert said. 

According to Lü, the Biden administration relied on assertive tactics to bind allies together in opposition to Russia, creating a transatlantic relationship that appeared robust but was inherently fragile. Trump's current approach merely exposes this vulnerability more starkly, bringing the underlying weaknesses into sharper focus.