US president makes announcement amid growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump has said he will send Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine as his administration signals growing disillusionment with Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s refusal to negotiate an end to Moscow\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will send them Patriots, which they desperately need,\u201d Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, there\u2019s a little bit of a problem there. I don\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said he had not decided on the number of Patriot batteries he would send to Ukraine, but \u201cthey\u2019re going to have some because they do need protection\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s comments come after he last week confirmed that his administration had decided to sell weapons to NATO allies in Europe for them to pass on to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Trump is set to meet NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte this week for discussions expected to focus on his plans to supply weapons to Kyiv.<\/p>\n
Rutte\u2019s trip to Washington, DC comes as Trump has teased that he will make a \u201cmajor statement\u201d on Russia on Monday.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Axios, citing two unnamed sources, reported that Trump\u2019s announcement would include \u201coffensive weapons\u201d for Ukraine.<\/p>\n
After campaigning on a promise to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine, Trump has expressed growing frustration with Putin\u2019s refusal to agree to a peace deal.<\/p>\n
While Putin has agreed to brief pauses in fighting, he has knocked back US proposals for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Russia has argued that the proposal, which has been accepted by Ukraine, would give Kyiv a chance to remobilise its troops and rearm.<\/p>\n
In some of his strongest criticism yet of Putin, Trump on Tuesday accused the Russian leader of throwing a lot of \u201cb******\u201d at the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
After returning to the White House in January, Trump moved to scale back support for Kyiv, casting Washington\u2019s aid as a drain on the US taxpayer and accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being an obstacle to peace.<\/p>\n
While Ukraine continued to receive weaponry through funds allocated during the tenure of former US president Joe Biden, Trump had declined to approve new arms shipments to help Kyiv repel Moscow\u2019s invasion.<\/p>\n