US President Donald Trump confirmed this Sunday his willingness to resume sending military aid to Ukraine, to which he will provide Patriot anti-aircraft defense systems, but announced that the bill will be paid by someone else: the European Union, he clarified, will be responsible for paying for this weaponry.

Trump justified this decision, which comes less than two weeks after the Pentagon abruptly cut off aid to kyiv in its defense against the Russian invasion, by his anger with the president of the aggressor country, Vladimir Putin, whom the Republican told reporters:"He talks nice, but then bombs everyone at night."

"I don't like that," added Trump, who has shown in recent days that his patience with his Russian counterpart, who is unwilling to sign a ceasefire with Kiev, is wearing thin. The US president took for granted during the campaign that brought him back to the White House that he would be able to end the war in Europe in a single day, a promise he has yet to keep almost six months later.

"The European Union will pay for them [the Patriots]," Trump told reporters Sunday night at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, where he flew after attending the FIFA Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The president did not reveal how many anti-aircraft batteries will be deployed to Ukraine, but he did insist that the operation will be"a business deal" for the United States, which will not"pay anything."

Rutte's visit

The war in Ukraine will be one of the topics at the top of Washington's agenda this week, which begins with a visit this Monday by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. This meeting is expected to yield more details about Trump's announcement regarding the Patriot missiles, crucial for defending against attacks launched by the Kremlin on land and air. The meeting first sparked news thanks to a NATO announcement. Trump later confirmed it in an informal meeting with reporters.

The US president had already announced last Thursday an agreement to send weapons to NATO, which will cover the cost and then deliver them to kyiv. If the operation materializes, it will be the first time in the nearly six months of his second term that kyiv has received a consignment of US weapons.

According to the Washington political news website Axios, citing two sources familiar with the president's plans, Trump will also soon unveil a new plan to arm Ukraine. This would confirm a change of attitude towards kyiv by the current US administration, which has an influential group of hawks opposed to US involvement in distant wars. The deployment of the US-made Patriot aircraft satisfies a repeatedly expressed request for assistance from Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky to defend himself against Putin's attacks, which have intensified in recent weeks.

"We are having a positive dialogue with Trump regarding the Patriot system," Zelensky had assured last Thursday in Rome, where the fourth EU Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine was being held. At that meeting, the Ukrainian president clarified that he had requested 10 of these defensive systems from Washington and that Germany had agreed to cover the cost of two of them and Norway, another, while the financing of the rest was being"negotiated."

Ukraine emerged strengthened from that donor summit, where the other big news was the new direction the White House took on the issue of arming the attacked country. General Keith Kellogg, Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, was the face of this change at the Rome conference. Kellogg had been sidelined due to his proximity to kyiv's positions. Now that the US president has changed his attitude toward Putin, the general seems to have regained his influence in the administration, as evidenced by his travel to kyiv on Monday, where he met with Zelensky.

“President Trump has said that if nations fight for their sovereignty, we will fight with them. This is precisely what Ukraine is fighting for,” Trump’s special envoy said in Rome. “Ukraine has fought without hesitation, and the West has an obligation to ensure that the sacrifice has not been in vain.”

Trump showed several times last week that his sympathy for Putin had given way to other feelings: frustration and impatience with the Russian president. At his sixth cabinet meeting last Tuesday, the Republican declared: “I’m not happy with Putin, I’m telling you right now, because he’s killing a lot of people.” “He’s just bewildering us with a lot of nonsense. You’re trying to get the truth out. And he always puts on his best face, but the conversations end up being meaningless.”