Donald Trump said he would ask the Europeans to reimburse the Ukraine aid provided by the United States under the presidency of his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, in a message on his Truth Social network on Thursday.
“Hundreds of billions of dollars have been given to Ukraine and NATO, for free, that Europe would have paid – if we had only asked for it, but we will ask for this money, even with a little delay,” the Republican president wrote.
Donald Trump has long claimed, even before his return to the White House, that Europeans should bear more of the cost of Western support to Ukraine in its war with Russia.
The explicit mention of reimbursement, however, is unprecedented.
The American leader did not specify which countries he intended to demand such reimbursement from, if Washington makes the request concrete.
Donald Trump spoke of the cost of aid to Ukraine in a message mainly focused on American armaments stocks.
He again vehemently dismissed press reports that have claimed for weeks a shortage linked to the war in Iran, reaffirming that the United States possessed “nearly unlimited quantities of munitions.”
He, however, added that Washington was “holding stocks” to face “any eventuality” and hinted that U.S. arms sales abroad were temporarily suspended.
“We are keeping them for ourselves, the United States of America, rather than selling them to others, but sales to our allies will resume soon,” wrote the American president.
