Roving Periscope: With no Nobel Peace Prize in sight, Trump sends weapons to Ukraine!

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Despite being nominated by two client countries—Israel and Pakistan—and some lawmakers in the US and Ukraine, President Donald Trump has little hope he will get the Nobel Peace Prize. So, he has decided to do the next best thing: rearm Ukraine to continue its ongoing war against Russia.

“We are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military, and they’re going to pay us 100 percent for them,” Trump said.

“It’ll be business for us,” he added.

The White House on Sunday took a U-turn from an announcement earlier this month that it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv, the media reported on Monday.

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin talks nice, then bombs everybody,” a frustrated Trump was quoted as saying as he decided to send Patriot missiles to Ukraine.

Washington would send Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv, he said, and hinted at new sanctions on Russia, once again voicing displeasure with Putin over Moscow’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

The US President’s announcement of the much-needed weapons for Ukraine came after he earlier said he would make a “major statement… on Russia” on Monday.

The announcement could come amid a diplomatic flurry set for Monday, with the US special envoy starting his latest trip to Ukraine and Trump set to meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Washington.

Russia’s war on Ukraine, which started on February 24, 2002, has lasted for more than three years, with attacks intensifying this summer and US-led negotiations so far yielding no results to end the conflict.

“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,” Trump, who failed to persuade Russia for ceasefire despite repeated efforts, said on Sunday, without specifying how many weapons he would send to Ukraine.

“I haven’t agreed on the number yet, but they’re going to have some because they do need protection,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, as he returned from watching the FIFA Club World Cup final in New Jersey.

The White House has U-turned from an announcement early in July that it would pause some arms deliveries to Kyiv, instead announcing a new deal which would involve NATO paying the United States for some of the weapons it sends to Ukraine.

Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was “close to reaching a multi-level agreement on new Patriot systems and missiles for them.”

President Trump also repeated that he was “disappointed” in the Russian leader, as he grows increasingly exasperated with Putin.

“Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,” said the disgruntled Trump.

When he first returned to the White House on January 20, Trump insisted he could work with the Russian leader to end the war, holding off on hiking sanctions unlike European allies.

But Russia has for months refused a ceasefire proposed by the United States and Kyiv. 

Trump has repeatedly voiced displeasure with Putin in recent days, and on Sunday hinted he might finally be ready to toughen sanctions as momentum grows for a deterrent package in US Congress.

When asked whether he would announce any sanctions against Russia, Trump responded: “We’re going to see what we will see tomorrow, OK?” and repeated plans to meet with Rutte.

Earlier on Sunday, US senators touted a bipartisan bill that would arm Trump with “sledgehammer” sanctions to use against Russia.

The sanctions bill would allow Trump “to go after Putin’s economy, and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told broadcaster CBS news.

It “would give President Trump the ability to impose 500 percent tariffs on any country that helps Russia,” said Graham, adding that those could include emerging economies that purchase Russian goods, like China, India or Brazil.

“This is truly a sledgehammer available to President Trump to end this war,” said Graham.

“Without a doubt, this is exactly the kind of leverage that can bring peace closer and make sure diplomacy is not empty,” Zelensky said about the proposed bill in an X post.

Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal were also due to meet NATO’s Rutte on Monday night.

Blumenthal told CBS news they would also discuss the legally thorny issue of unlocking frozen Russian assets in Europe and the United States for access by Ukraine.

“The USD 5 billion that the United States has also could be accessed, and I think it’s time to do it,” said Blumenthal.