The Trump administration is not ruling out providing Ukraine with defensive weapons in its fight against Russian-backed separatists, a State Department official told THE WEEKLY STANDARD, though the administration is focused on a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
The Kremlin has provided the separatists with military support in the face of the 2015 Minsk ceasefire agreement. The Trump administration, in turn, has vowed to maintain Ukraine-related sanctions on Russia until it implements the agreement. But even as Trump officials are advocating for a diplomatic solution, whether through Minsk or other means, the administration is leaving the potential for lethal defensive aid on the table.
“The U.S. Government has neither sold nor granted defensive weapons to Ukraine, nor has it ruled out the option of doing so,” a State Department official told TWS.
“Ukraine has a right to defend itself against Russian aggression,” the official added. “However, the United States and Europe continue to focus on finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis through full implementation of the Minsk agreements and other diplomatic initiatives.”
The years-long crisis will be a topic of conversation when President Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin have their first official meeting this week at the G20 summit in Hamburg. There, Putin will restate Russia’s position that the Minsk deal is the only diplomatic option and Ukraine must end what a Kremlin spokesman called its military “provocations,” state media reported.
The Trump administration has taken other measures to crack down on Russia. In late June, the Treasury Department designated dozens of individuals and companies that it said were fueling the conflict in Ukraine. “These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “There should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreements.”
Still, Trump has simultaneously pledged to improve relations with Russia. On this, some administration officials appear at odds with Congress, which is forging ahead with wide-ranging sanctions on the Kremlin. Tillerson had asked the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to give the administration some time to try and change the direction of U.S.-Russia relations before the upper chamber passed a sanctions bill 98 to 2 in June.
“As the president has made clear, he’d like the United States and the entire West to develop a more constructive relationship with Russia,” national security adviser H.R. McMaster said last week ahead of Trump’s meeting with Putin. “But he’s also made clear that we will do what is necessary to confront Russia’s destabilizing behavior.”
Dozens of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle support providing Ukraine with lethal defensive aid, including Senate minority whip Dick Durbin and leading Russia hawk John McCain. “Vladimir Putin’s violent campaign to destabilize and dismember the sovereign nation of Ukraine will not stop unless and until he meets a strong and determined response,” McCain wrote to Trump in February.
