President Trump is considering allocating new funding to Ukraine for the first time since taking office in January, several diplomatic sources told CBS News.
The new funding could be aimed at sending a signal to Russia, which in recent days has struck Ukraine with drones and missiles.
The source of the potential funding is unclear. However, U.S. officials told CBS News that Trump has $3.85 billion at his disposal, left over from Biden's presidential powers, which could be used to send American military equipment to Ukraine. Former officials also told CBS News that the president has the right to confiscate about $5 billion of foreign Russian assets and direct these funds to Ukraine, although neither he nor former President Joe Biden have used this opportunity.
Meanwhile, Trump has urged European countries to take on a greater share of the burden of supporting Ukraine.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump suggested that NATO would buy weapons from the U.S. to transfer to Ukraine. This would be a radical policy shift, as in the past NATO as an organization has not supplied weapons directly to Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance. Instead, individual alliance members have decided to provide assistance to Ukraine on their own.