Donald Trump has finally found a way to arm Ukraine

WASHINGTON The US has also signalled willingness under the proposed arrangement with European allies to send additional offensive weapons, said one source familiar with the matter, though Trump has said that Ukraine should refrain from attacking Moscow

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President Donald Trump has finally found a way to like arming Ukraine: ask European allies to donate their weapons, and sell them American replacements. 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 defence 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 US 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 IO officials in the US 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.