U.S. is not obliged to help Ukraine, Trump says
U.S. President Donald Trump said that Washington is not obliged to provide military aid to Ukraine because it is located "thousands of miles away".
He made the statement at a press briefing on 16 March, Censor.NET reports.
Support for Ukraine
According to Trump, former US President Joe Biden did this because "he was fooled". At the same time, he again mentioned the PURL programme — the purchase of US-made weapons for Ukraine by NATO countries.
"We spend a lot of money on, you know, NATO and all these things to protect them (Europeans - ed.). I mean, we protect them. We are working with them on Ukraine. We protect [NATO], we are sending weapons to Ukraine, Ukraine is thousands of miles away from us and separated by an ocean. We are not obliged to help them. Biden did that, Biden was fooled, but we are not obliged to do it," the current White House chief said.
Trump also compared the war in Ukraine to the situation in Lebanon.
"They have already got used to Lebanon being bombed. People live in Ukraine too — although you might think they would not live there, but they do. I do not know whether I would do that, but they live there. And in Lebanon, too," he said.
In addition, according to the US president, the fact that NATO countries do not want to provide security in the Strait of Hormuz is "terrible".
- As reported earlier, US President Donald Trump had claimed that his predecessor Joe Biden had handed Ukraine hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American weapons for free.
What is known about the PURL programme?
PURL is an international programme (initiative) that coordinates the purchase of US-made defence equipment for Ukraine using funds from partners, especially NATO countries. It speeds up the delivery of critical weapons and supports Ukraine’s defence during the war.
The programme became operational in August 2025.
Within several months, partner-country contributions exceeded several billion dollars (as of late 2025, more than $4 billion, with over 20 countries having joined the project).
The Ukrainian authorities believe the programme needs about $15 billion a year to fully cover requirements.
European countries and NATO partners have joined the initiative, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and others.
Through PURL, Ukraine has already received several support packages, including:
