The US President Donald Trump agreed to Germanyʼs offer to purchase Patriot systems for Ukraine with German money after seeing footage of the latest Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian cities on July 11.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.
When Merz learned of the aid suspension to Ukraine two weeks ago, he asked to speak with Trump. The conversation took place on July 3, the same day Trump last spoke with Putin.
Merz immediately offered to buy two Patriot systems from the US to transfer to Ukraine. The US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth joined the call. Sources say that at that point it seemed as if Trump was unaware of the decision to suspend aid.
“Pete, what’s going on?” he asked, and within a few days the Pentagon had resumed deliveries.
Then, on July 3, Trump did not agree to the sale of the complexes. However, after seeing the bombing of Ukraine on July 11, Trump himself called Merz. The WSJ does not specify what attacks were being referred to, but on July 11, the Russians targeted a maternity hospital in Kharkiv — news about this appeared in “Trump’s favorite newspaper” the New York Post the same day.
Trump then called German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on his cell phone to express his disappointment that Putin was continuing to attack Ukraine.
Merz was surprised, but quickly realized that Trump had lost patience with the Russian leader. Trump announced that he was ready to accept the German Chancellorʼs offer and offered to buy not two, but five Patriot systems.
As the WSJ emphasizes, this decision, along with threats to impose sanctions against Russia and a larger arms sales initiative, were the result of a months-long campaign by European leaders who tried to convince Trump to arm Kyiv and increase pressure on Putin.
Germany, France, the United Kingdom and other countries have intensified contacts with the United States: high-ranking officials have opened confidential channels of communication with key representatives of the Trump administration.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb befriended Trump at a golf tournament in Florida. Merz visited Trump at the White House on June 5 and has spoken to him almost weekly since then.
The NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has been sending Trump "encouraging messages" and even calling him "daddy", supporting the American leaderʼs dissatisfaction with the situation in the Middle East and his efforts to cement a truce between Israel and Iran.
In addition, the Europeans established contacts with US ministers who were considered sympathetic to Ukraine, in particular with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as with a network of pro-Republican congressmen who support Kyiv.
German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil met with Bessent, who promised to lobby for sanctions and arms supplies in talks with Trump, German officials said. Foreign Minister Johannes Wadeful was in contact with Rubio.
Merz, a former businessman who flies his own plane, has found it easier to connect with Trump than previous German leaders, sources said, helped by his ability to promise significant funding for American weapons after he changed the German constitution to allow almost unlimited borrowing — something his predecessors had failed to do.
- The US President Donald Trump, after meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on July 14, reported that he had concluded an agreement to supply weapons to Ukraine. They did not specify what weapons and how much they were worth. However, Trump spoke of “state-of-the-art weapons worth billions of dollars”, while Rutte emphasized that the agreement included both ammunition and missiles.
- Later, Axios reported that the US would sell nearly $10 billion worth of weapons to NATO allies for further deliveries to Ukraine. And this is just the first phase.
- Politico reported on July 16 that France will not participate in this initiative — the country has recently been actively urging Europeans to develop their own defense industry and buy local.
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