Trump victory raises questions over future of Ukraine military aid

The Ukrainian leader referenced his “great meeting” with Trump in September, saying, “I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs.”

Notably, Zelensky said they “rely on continued strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States.”

However, the question is whether bipartisan support will still be available once Trump is inaugurated.

In light of Trump’s victory, the Biden administration is expected to expend all funding for Ukrainian aid before the president leaves office on Jan. 20, 2025, according to Politico. The current administration will continue “surging” aid to Ukraine before Biden leaves office, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Thursday, while Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said the department has about $6 billion left in its two means of providing aid to Ukraine. However, the aid may not reach Ukraine by then, and the new administration could theoretically stop it before it gets there.

BIDEN’S ‘TRUMP-PROOFING’ FOREIGN POLICY REVOLVES AROUND UKRAINE AND NATO

While both Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance have questioned continued U.S. military support for Ukraine, there still are more hawkish Republicans in Congress who have gone as far as to urge the Biden administration to do more for Ukraine. Many of Ukraine’s biggest supporters in the Republican Party on Capitol Hill are on or are leading national security, foreign affairs, and defense-related committees.

Trump has said he would end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, though it’s unclear how that could come together without Ukraine agreeing to significant concessions, which it has shown no interest in doing up to this point in the war.

On the battlefield, the Western world is grappling with the budding alliance between Russia and other authoritarian leaders. North Korea recently provided Russia with about 10,000 troops, many of which are now fighting Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces have held territory. Iran has also provided military support for Russia over the course of the war.

While Russian forces have made limited gains recently, about 1,200 of their soldiers are being killed daily, according to U.S. officials, who also have said Russia’s total killed or injured in action is likely north of 600,000 throughout the war.

Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has been highly scrutinized both during the former president’s first administration and during his campaign. Trump has spoken positively of the Russian leader and refused to confirm or deny reports that the two had been in touch multiple times since he left office in January 2021.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two leaders could talk ahead of Trump’s inauguration, but he said there have been no active discussions yet.

“It is not out of the question,” he said, according to Russian state media. “There is no work [towards it] so far. Besides, it is too early. Who should we work with as of now?”

Russian disinformation actors were very active leading up to and on Election Day. The U.S. intelligence community believed, ahead of the election, that Russia wanted Trump to win, while Iran wanted a Harris victory partly due to the belief that Trump would be more likely to limit or end military support for Ukraine.

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Trump has presented his stance as being less supportive than the Biden administration, even though it hasn’t met all of Ukraine’s requests. For several months, the current administration has refused Kyiv’s requests to be allowed to use U.S.-provided weapons to hit military targets deeper into Russia.

Trump has repeatedly accused the U.S.’s NATO allies of not doing their part in securing Europe’s security and contributing to Ukraine’s defense.