From the beginning, the protection of Ukraine against Russia’s full -scale invasion has been lined with a strong commitment from its Western partners. To support Ukraine, the biden administration’s vow “As long as it takes” promised Washington’s constant flow of military and financial aid directly. This “direct donor” model was important for Ukraine’s early flexibility, which provides the required weapon from US stockpiles.
Biden’s perspective mainly included direct transfer from American weapon inventions, prioritizing speed and ensuring that Ukraine quickly obtained important equipment to combat Russian aggression. The US government provided wide amounts of equipment to the Kiev directly, from air-defense missiles to artillery rounds and armored vehicles.
Now, under President Trump, the paradigm is shifting. The US is infection for a “strategic supplier” from a direct donor, where European allies buy American weapons for Ukraine at their expense.
While this recreation marks a significant change, it is far from the worst position for Ukraine. Instead, it represents more sustainable development of a practical and potentially transatlantic burden-division, protecting important capabilities for Ukraine, while American defense induces industrial base and rearranes the nature of associated support. Support still “until it takes” but “even at the expense of others.”
It departs from a traditional World War Donor-Great Model, especially within the NATO alliance, a more transaction “America first” approach. Future American involvement in global security will probably be contingency on tangible economic benefits and direct cost-sharing from colleagues. More approximate than such an innings, although low -philanthropic, can be a structure for safety cooperation, where the Allies are forced to demonstrate their commitment through direct financial contribution.
This policy rebirth accelerates European strategic autonomy. While the immediate effect is paying for Europe American weapons, long -term implications are forced to more and more European defense integration and self -sufficiency. European nations are already increasing their defense spending and constantly planning for the future with low guaranteed American assistance. This new model, by providing weapons for purchase, encourages Europe to develop its own strong procurement mechanism and potentially expands its own defense industrial base.
The most pressure and permanent requirement of Ukraine remains strong air defense against Russia’s growing missiles and drone attacks. The US-made Patriot Air-Defense System is important, as it is one of the few systems that are capable of interrupting high-speed ballistic missiles. These systems are important for protecting civil infrastructure and population centers, which are subject to tireless Russian bombing.
An important strategic reality for Ukraine is that not all American weapons are equally changed by European options. While Europe is increasing its own artillery production, the unique counter-ballistic missile capacity of the Patriot system is a requirement that America can only provide on a scale.
Europe, at the same time, has demonstrated a clear desire and the ability to promote a large part of the burden to increase the ability to promote. The European Union has already provided € 165 billion in financial aid and launched the € 800 billion defense readiness scheme. Frozen Russian sovereign assets can be used to finance Ukraine’s need.
The change in a foreign military sales model is clearly to strengthen the US defense industrial base. By integrating “export capacity features” in defense systems during the design phase, the US tries to pursue its competition abroad and to carry forward a potentially low unit cost for both the US and its colleagues.
While the foreign military sales process historically has been slow and plagued by delivery backlog, the new model offers a possible solution. Constant, large -scale orders from European colleagues can provide long -term contracts that the US defense industry needs to invest significantly in surge capacity and remove challenges. It first replaces a “drain” on American stockpiles, requiring taxpayer expenses, in a constant stimulation for American manufacturing, “America first” was aligned with economic principles.
This innings is not only about burden-sharing; It is about recurrence and modernization to the US defense industrial base. While immediate reforms for the current deficiency are challenging, this strategic regeneration creates a more durable industrial ecosystem.
Trump’s recent rhetoric made a remarkable change from his earlier stance, which often appeared consistent to Vladimir Putin. He has admitted that Russia, not Ukraine, is the main problem in talks, even Russia and its business partners are threatened with tariffs and restrictions if there is no peace deal within 50 days. The reality is that Putin is not responsible for a quick “deal”, now clear.
Now there is an important political opening for continuous support for Ukraine, even if the funding mechanism changes. The story desirous of collapse of Ukraine is denied. Instead, the Trump is committed to ending the war that align with the interests of their administration. This represents an important psychological advantage for Ukraine, as it reduces the fear of a complete American abandonment.
Maksym Skrypchenko is the chairman of the transatalantic dialogue center.
