The Trump administration is allowing the export of arms to Ukraine, a senior State Department official confirmed, marking a potentially significant turn against Russia.
The official who confirmed the decision to allow the export said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson approved an export license to allow Ukraine to buy weapons and small arms from US manufacturers, a decision the source said the State Department conveyed to Congress a week ago.
“This is not the US government providing weapons, nor selling them, to Ukraine,” the source said. “It is allowing Ukraine to purchase from US companies, and for US companies to export them.”
It was not immediately clear if there are any limits to what kind of weapons can be exported.
In a background call with reporters earlier Wednesday, the State Department said the US government has not “directly sold” or granted defensive weapons to Ukraine, but had yet to rule out the possibility.
The Washington Post was first to report on the administration’s decision to allow the export of weapons to Ukraine, which has been under consideration and breaks with both the stated practice of the Obama administration and the spirit of Trump’s call for the US to foster warmer relations with Russia.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump unveiled his National Security Strategy, which challenges Russia on several fronts and argues Moscow’s ambition and capabilities are creating “an unstable frontier in Eurasia, where the risk of conflict due to Russian miscalculation is growing.”
