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In brief: As peace talks slow, the Trump White House approved its first $50M arms exports to Ukraine through direct commercial sales to Kyiv.
WASHINGTON DC – On Wednesday, the Trump administration informed Congress of its intention to green-light the export of defense-related products to Ukraine through direct commercial sales (DCS) of $50 million or more, Kyiv Post has learned from diplomatic sources.
The permission – the first of its kind since Trump returned to the White House over 100 days ago – comes just weeks after the administration paused all Ukraine-related military aid for review, emphasizing a new priority: leveraging US influence to end the conflict through diplomacy rather than prolonged military support.
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
Congress, in its last aid package for Ukraine, had approved over $1 billion worth of arms for Ukraine under the previous US administration of President Joe Biden.
From 2015 through 2023, the US had quietly authorized the permanent export of over $1.6 billion in defense articles and services to Ukraine via DCS.
“All DCS are quiet; they don’t get announced publicly like Foreign Military Sales,” Colby Badhwar, security assistance analyst at Tochnyi, a research group, told Kyiv Post’s Washington correspondent.
“The news here is basically that it [US arms sales] is continuing, despite everyone predicting that Trump would cut Ukraine off completely,” he added.
The $50 million sale license notice, first seen by Kyiv Post, was submitted to Congress via the Arms Export Control Act, a law that authorizes US Presidents to control the import and export of defense articles and services, according to formal notice sent to the Congress from the State Department’s Legislative Affairs office.
The proposed sale covers the export of defense articles, including technical data, and defense services to Ukraine.
The move also comes just weeks after President Volodymyr Zelensky announced his country’s intention to buy $30-50 billion worth of air defense systems and weapons from the US as a form of future security guarantees.
Dr. Michael Cecire, defense and security researcher at Rand, a nonprofit, non-partisan research organization, believes that if US military aid for Ukraine continues – whether it’s continuing the previous package or further exercising presidential drawdown authority – “it will strengthen US leverage.”
“The Trump administration has repeatedly communicated its desire for a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine. To achieve its goal will require leverage with both Kyiv and Moscow,” Dr. Cecire told Kyiv Post.
Alex Raufoglu is Kyiv Post's Chief Correspondent in Washington DC. He covers the US State Department, regularly traveling with US Secretary of State. Raufoglu has worked extensively in the South Caucasus and Black Sea regions for several international broadcast outlets, such as VoA, BBC, RFE/RL, etc. He holds an MA in Interactive Journalism from American University, Washington DC.
