The government shutdown has slowed arms transfers to NATO allies and Ukraine. Some State Department officials involved in ensuring weapons sales are completed have been furloughed.
Axios reports the words of officials who explained AMRAAM and HIMARS missile shipments to Denmark, Croatia, and Poland have been delayed. Many of these arms will then be transferred to Ukraine.
"This is actually really harming both our allies and partners and US industry to actually deliver a lot of these critical capabilities overseas," a senior State Department official told Axios.
The White House blamed Democrats for the slowdown in a statement to Axios: "Democrats are holding up critical weapons sales, including to our NATO allies, which harms the U.S. industrial base and puts our and our partners’ security at risk," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.
And the Ukrainian publication Kyiv Post noted:
Even as the Senate moved toward reopening the government, the shutdown’s ripple effects continued to reverberate across national security circles.
Alarming reports indicated the funding lapse had frozen more than $5 billion in US weapons exports intended for NATO allies and Ukraine.
After taking office, President Donald Trump canceled Joe Biden’s policy of shipping billions of dollars in weapons every month to Ukraine. Trump has authorized NATO states to buy US weapons for Ukraine.
While Trump has ended direct weapon transfers to Ukraine, he has continued to fuel the war by providing Kiev with intelligence for long-range strikes inside Russia and ramped up sanctions on Moscow.
Russian media taking note: "Even routine arms deals are struck."
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to end the war on his first day in office. Trump has failed to make progress towards that promise as the White House recently called off a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary.
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