War: Trump’s govt finally approves military equipment for Ukraine against Russia

President Donald Trump’s administration will approve its first sale of military equipment to Ukraine.

This is an indication that the newly signed minerals deal by the two countries this week may open a path to renewed weapons shipments.

The state department has certified a proposed licence to export “$50m or more” (£37.6m) of defence hardware and services to Ukraine.

This was contained in a communication sent to the US committee on foreign relations.

It would mark the first permission of its kind since Trump paused all Ukraine-related military aid shortly after taking office.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said on Thursday that the signing of the long-discussed minerals deal was a result of the meeting he held with Trump on the sidelines of the pope’s funeral on Saturday.

“Now we have the first result of the Vatican meeting, which makes it really historic. We are waiting for other results of the meeting,” he said, in his nightly video address.

Zelenskyy hailed the deal as “truly equal”, saying it created “an opportunity for quite significant investment in Ukraine”.

A senior aide said Kyiv hoped that weapons deliveries would resume swiftly.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to Zelenskyy, said during an interview in Kyiv, “There is no direct link where it’s written that ‘you will receive these particular weapons’, but it opens the possibility for parallel talks on the purchase of weapons.”

“The American side is now open to these discussions,” he added.

War: Trump’s govt finally approves military equipment for Ukraine against Russia