Ukraine has reacted with shock and concern over the United States’ decision to pause military aid, with one senior politician warning of “dangerous consequences.”
“We’ll see very soon the serious consequences—dangerous consequences,” Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday. He cautioned that the impact could be felt on the battlefield within days.
The news broke early Tuesday that Washington was “pausing and reviewing” its military assistance to Kyiv. A White House official told CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, that the move was intended to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”
“The President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well,” the official said.
While US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have yet to comment, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reaffirmed Kyiv’s willingness to cooperate with Washington and expressed “gratefulness” for past support.
However, some Ukrainian lawmakers have condemned the decision. Merezhko described it as “disastrous” and warned that halting aid at this critical moment “looks like siding with Russia.”
“I’m appealing to Mr. Trump not to play with these dangerous issues because we’re talking about lives,” he said.
Merezhko also linked the pause to last Friday’s tense exchange between Zelensky and the US president and vice president, calling it “an attempt to find justification” for stopping aid. “It was a show, you know, deliberately played,” he added.
US Vice President JD Vance rejected claims that Trump was aligning with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking on Fox News Channel’s Hannity, he dismissed the accusations as “big problems” and defended Trump’s diplomatic approach.
“He’s negotiating with them. There’s a give-and-take. There’s a trust, but [we] verify. That’s called diplomacy. We used to have some respect for that in Washington,” Vance said.
For Ukraine, the pause threatens a vital supply chain. A previous disruption, caused by US congressional disputes, resulted in territorial losses and casualties, according to Zelensky.
Near Ukraine’s western border with Poland, police-escorted convoys regularly transport military aid—including armour and ammunition—to the frontlines. Now, questions loom over whether Kyiv will still receive ammunition for US-made weapons already delivered and whether intelligence-sharing with Washington will continue.
One Ukrainian advocacy group accused Trump of “hanging Ukrainians out to dry and giving Russia the green light to keep marching west.”
Ukrainian MP Volodymyr Aryev called the pause a “very painful blow,” while MP Oleksiy Honcharenko described it as a “catastrophe” but insisted “not all is lost.”
“Roosevelt and Churchill are turning in their graves. America has sided with the global evil,” wrote Ukrainian activist Yuri Kasyanov. Another blogger, Leonid Shvets, responded sarcastically: “Thank you, America! You have gone mad.”
The decision has also sparked reactions across Europe.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has yet to respond directly, but Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that while the pause was “a matter for the US,” Britain remains committed to supporting Ukraine and engaging Washington in discussions.
France’s Europe Minister Benjamin Haddad was more critical, warning on French television that the pause “only strengthens the hand of the aggressor—Russia.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X that a “sovereign, pro-Western Ukraine” makes Poland “stronger and safer,” adding, “Whoever questions this obvious truth contributes to Putin’s triumph.”
As uncertainty grows, Ukraine now faces a difficult question: how long can it sustain the fight without American support?
