France and Italy have declined to participate in a plan to purchase US weapons and send them to Ukraine, a scheme that was announced by President Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday.
France clarified that it’s still set on supporting Ukraine with military aid but wants to prioritize the purchase of European weapons, and that it was also dealing with budget constraints. Italy had a similar message and pointed to the Italian-made SAMP/T air defense system that it has already supplied to Ukraine.
Reuters reported that some NATO allies were caught off guard by Trump and Rutte’s announcement. Rutte claimed that six countries — Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Canada — were already willing to participate in the scheme. But officials from two of those nations said that the announcement was the first they had heard of it.
“It is my clear sense that nobody has been briefed about the exact details in advance,” a European ambassador told Reuters. “I also suspect that internally in the administration, they are only now beginning to sort out what it means in practice.”
Trump stated that under the plan, “billions of dollars” worth of US military equipment would be on the way to Ukraine soon, and reports indicated that $10 billion in arms sales were expected in the first wave. But so far, it remains unclear how many weapons sales will materialize.
NATO allies are also struggling to find Patriot missile defense systems to send to Ukraine, despite Trump’s pledge that some would be on the way “within days.” The US stockpile of Patriot interceptors is significantly depleted due to US support for Ukraine and the ongoing wars in the Middle East.
