Trump Administration resumes sending weapons to Ukraine after Pentagon pause

The United States is delivering artillery shells and mobile rocket artillery missiles to Ukraine, days after President Donald Trump’s administration had halted shipments of some critical weapons to Kyiv.

The pause in some weapon shipments last week appears to have been tied to concerns that US military stockpiles might be too low, two officials said on Wednesday.

Since then, Mr Trump said he did not know who ordered the pause and that he would send more weapons to Ukraine, primarily defensive ones, to help the war-torn country defend itself against intensifying Russian advances.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 155mm artillery shells and GMLRS (mobile rocket artillery) missiles were now being provided to Ukraine.

The officials did not say how many weapons were being sent and whether the shipment was complete. It was also unclear whether the new shipment represented any change in policy by the Administration.

Russia targeted Ukraine with a record 728 drones overnight.

The attack, which follows a series of escalating air assaults on Ukraine in recent weeks, showed the need for “biting” sanctions on the sources of income Russia uses to finance the war, including on those who buy Russian oil, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s military downed almost all the drones but some of the six hypersonic missiles launched by Russia had caused unspecified damage, air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on Ukrainian television.

Meanwhile, Pope Leo has told Mr Zelensky that the Vatican is willing to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks.

The Pope, meeting the Ukrainian leader for the second time in his two-month-old papacy, also discussed “the urgent need for a just and lasting peace,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Mr Zelensky and Pope Leo held talks in Castel Gandolfo, a small Italian hill town not far from Rome, where the Pope is having a two-week holiday.

Mr Zelensky said on X that holding talks with Russia in the Vatican would be “entirely possible, with the goal of stopping Russian aggression and achieving a stable, lasting, and genuine peace”.

But he said Russia had rejected such proposals, “as it has turned down all other peace initiatives”.

Russian officials have told Reuters in the past that they did not see the Vatican as a serious venue for talks because it is surrounded by NATO military alliance member Italy which has supported Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader is in Italy to attend a conference on July 10-11 dedicated to Ukraine’s recovery and long-term reconstruction following Russia’s invasion.

The Vatican did not say how long the meeting between Pope Leo and Mr Zelensky lasted.

It released video showing Leo, the first US-born pontiff, asking Mr Zelensky “How are things going?” in English as they sat in a large room together.

Pope Leo, who has made appealing for peace in world conflicts a major theme of his young papacy, previously met Mr Zelensky at the Vatican on May 18.

The Pope also held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 4, during which the Vatican said Pope Leo had asked Mr Putin to take concrete steps to end Russia’s three-year war on Ukraine.

Mr Trump suggested in May that Pope Leo had offered to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks although the pontiff did not discuss it publicly at the time.