President Donald Trump has finally found a way to like arming Ukraine: ask European allies to donate their weapons, and sell them American replacements, Reuters reports.
Now comes the hard part — agreeing on who will actually give up their prized systems, including the Patriot missile batteries that Kyiv has been desperately seeking.
Some Patriot missile defense systems should arrive in Ukraine "within days," Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.
"We're going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they'll be sent to NATO," he said.
The costly Patriot systems - in high demand among U.S. allies - have proven effective at destroying Russian ballistic missiles aimed at Ukraine's cities.
But since the announcement, it has become clear Trump presented a framework - not a fleshed-out plan. How sizeable any support ends up being for Ukraine will depend on coming negotiations about who provides which equipment, according to 10 officials in the U.S. and Europe.
The central question is who would donate the Patriot batteries, and when.
"As always with these things, the devil is in the details," said one northern European ambassador in Washington.
The plan, which Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte hatched in recent days, according to two sources familiar with the discussions, has been received positively by Ukraine and its allies.
Leaders in Kyiv and elsewhere have celebrated a major tonal shift from Trump, who had until recent weeks spoken glowingly of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Some in Europe have voiced frustration that they are the ones actually footing the bill for Trump's announcement.
During his Oval Office meeting with Trump on Monday, Rutte mentioned six NATO countries - Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada - that were willing to participate in the weapons-purchasing scheme.
High-ranking sources at two of those countries' embassies in the U.S. told Reuters they personally learned of the plan as it was announced. Even close U.S. allies appeared to learn of the proposal in real time.
