Trump promises US arms to Europe to replace Ukraine deliveries

European countries will donate US-made weapons to Ukraine and get them backfilled by Washington, under a new plan backed by NATO.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday Europeans will buy US weapons to replace gear sent to Ukraine – a move aimed at increasing deliveries to the battlefield and boosting European purchases of American-made equipment.

Trump announced last Friday that Europeans would pay for US equipment sent to Ukraine – a move NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had already floated earlier this year.

Since taking over ceasefire mediation between Ukraine and Russia, the Trump administration has been looking for ways to reduce its own military spending on the conflict.

“We made a deal today where we are going to be sending [Ukraine] weapons, and [Europeans] are going to be paying for them,” Trump said.

Specifically, European countries have agreed to purchase more US-made equipment – including Patriot air defence systems – to replace what they will donate to Ukraine.

This “means a country will move equipment fast [to Ukraine] and the US will be backfilling them because speed is of the essence”, Rutte explained.

This way, “Ukraine can get its hands on massive quantities of military equipment – air defence, missiles, ammunition, etc.,” Rutte added.

The announcement is expected to drive up defence spending across Europe, with US-made systems like the Patriot – which Trump specifically mentioned – being both sophisticated and costly. It comes just weeks after European countries agreed to raise military expenditure to 5% of GDP.

Countries expressing interest include Germany, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Canada – all of whom “want to be a part of this”, Rutte said.

The move is also seen as a setback for countries such as France and for the European Commission’s push to boost the EU defence industry, with billions now expected to flow to American manufacturers instead.

Rutte predicted that the promise of quick backfilling will nudge more European countries to send military hardware to Ukraine. Many had previously hesitated to deliver sophisticated US-made systems from their arsenals due to long replacement lead times, which would have left them under-equipped for extended periods.

While Trump has promised faster deliveries, Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, said last month that the lead time for a Patriot battery is currently seven years.

The announcement is a win for Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that the US has spent too much on military support for Ukraine and that it needs to stop.

Monday’s move appears to signal the end of large-scale US military hardware transfers to Kyiv.

The Western military alliance NATO will be in charge of coordination.