US President Donald Trump plans to arm Ukraine with offensive weapons, two sources with knowledge of the plans told Axios on Monday, following Trump’s announcement that he would send Ukraine Patriot air defense missiles.
The offensive weapons would reportedly include long-range missiles that could reach targets deep inside Russian territory, including Moscow.
"Trump is really pissed at [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. His announcement tomorrow is going to be very aggressive," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told Axios.
Trump said on Sunday he will send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, saying they are necessary to defend the country because Putin "talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening."
Trump did not give a number of Patriots he plans to send to Ukraine, but he said the United States would be reimbursed for their cost by the European Union.
The US president has grown increasingly disenchanted with Putin because the Russian leader has resisted Trump's attempts to negotiate a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia.
"We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening. But there's a little bit of a problem there. I don't like it," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington.
"We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment. They are going to pay us 100% for that, and that's the way we want it," Trump said.
The Kremlin said on Monday that US arms and ammunition deliveries to Ukraine have continued and are still continuing.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Kyiv was obviously in no hurry on the third round of peace talks, adding that Russia was ready for them and awaiting clarity on the timing from Ukraine.