Will Trump's 'Major Statement' on July 14 Be On More U.S. Arms to Ukraine?

President Donald Trump “revealed” in an interview with NBC News on Thursday night, July 10, the details of a new deal with NATO on providing arms to Ukraine. “We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%. So what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons,” Trump said. He claimed that the deal was reached at last month’s NATO summit in The Hague. “We send weapons to NATO, and NATO is going to reimburse the full cost of those weapons,” Trump said.

Trump also spoke about the status of Russia’s war with Ukraine, telling NBC News, “I’m disappointed in Russia, but we’ll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.” He added, without elaborating, “I think I’ll have a major statement to make on Russia on Monday,” July 14.

There’s a lot of speculation in the press that the content of that “major statement” will include an announcement of a new U.S. military aid package for Ukraine. [Politico reported yesterday that Trump is weighing a new military aid package for Ukraine worth hundreds of millions of dollars, which would be the Trump Administration’s first arms package for the Kiev regime. The money for it would come out of the $3.8 billion in presidential drawdown authority (PDA) left over from the Biden administration.

A few hours later, ABC News reported that U.S. military and NATO officials are discussing a possible plan that could be unveiled in the coming days that would provide Ukraine with much-needed aerial defense weapons, including Patriot systems, by funneling U.S. weapons through the European alliance. Still unclear, ABC News reports, is whether the U.S. plans to pull weapons systems from its own military stocks to sell to European allies. “President Trump has spoken about this, not just with the press, but with the NATO Secretary General, who is working with Allies to get Ukraine the help they need,” a senior NATO military official told ABC News.

At the same time, the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee approved a $500 million defense assistance package for Ukraine. This seems to be different from what Trump reportedly might be considering, however. According to The Hill, the Senate bill extends the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2028, adding $200 million for 2026, which is separate from the leftover PDA money.