NEW YORK, August 3. /TASS/. The Washington administration has been trying to exert pressure on Russia by supplying the Kiev government with US weapons at the expense of European countries, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said on the X social network.
"By selling US weapons to our NATO Allies, we plan to pressure Russia back to the negotiating table and secure a lasting ceasefire," he wrote.
In an earlier interview to NBC, Whitaker emphasized that Washington does not want Kiev to run out of weapons. "The arms sales to our European NATO allies that are then going to be provided to Ukraine, make sure that those weapons don't run out," he said.
"I'm hoping that by the United States leaning in, selling our weapons to our NATO allies, that that will lead the Russians back to the negotiating table and actually get to a cease fire," he said.
Speaking about the financial aspect of the matter, he added: "I wouldn't say it's a windfall. I think what it is is it just takes the burden off the back of the American taxpayer."
In his words, Trump is growing increasingly disappointed by what he sees as the lack of significant progress in the Ukrainian conflict settlement. Whitaker added that weapons deliveries to Kiev will create preconditions for a peace process.
On July 14, US President Donald Trump said that Washington will continue transferring weapons and military equipment to Kiev, if Europe pays and NATO coordinates the process. According to the American president, the deliveries will include 17 Patriot systems.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on August 1 that Moscow’s main objective is to eradicate the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and ensure Russia’s security. In his words, Russia is ready to wait if Ukraine thinks that the time for talks has not come yet.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin in an interview that Russia was ready to make rapid progress in the Ukrainian settlement, but the main thing for Moscow is to achieve its goals. The speed of the process depends not only on Moscow, he added.