Washington. Us President Donald Trump said on Monday that the UNITED States would send more weapons to Ukraine after Russia claimed new gains in the war against its neighbor.

Trump’s announcement came after Washington said last week it had stopped shipping some weapons to Kyiv. The ban on arms shipments surprised Ukrainian authorities and forced them to struggle for clarity.

The halt poses a potentially serious challenge for Kiev, which is facing Russia’s biggest missile and drone attack in more than three years of war.

“We have to send more weapons — mainly defensive weapons,” Trump told reporters at the White House about Ukraine. He also said he was “not happy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin launched a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has shown little desire to end the conflict despite Pressure from Trump.

The U.S. president pledged to send more weapons to Ukraine after Moscow said on Monday it had captured its first village in ukraine’s central Danipropetrovsk region after months of advance by its forces.

Prior to the announcement, Russia launched a new large-scale drone and missile attack, including ukrainian military recruiting centers. Kiev also said it had carried out a drone attack on a Russian ammunition plant in the Moscow region.

‘difficult’ state

Russia says its forces have captured the village of Dachne in the Danipropetrovsk region. The village is an important industrial mining area and is facing increasing Russian air strikes.

Last month, Moscow said its forces had crossed the border in the Danipropetrovsk region for the first time in its operation. Russian forces appear to have made crossing the regional border a key strategic objective in recent months, and a deeper advance there could pose logistics and economic problems for Ukraine.

Kiev has so far denied any Russian presence in Danipropetrovsk. Earlier on Monday, ukraine’s military said it was “resistance” to attacks on Danipropetrovsk, including “around” Dachne.

Danipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizzia and Crimea. Moscow has publicly called these five regions Russian territories.

Describing the situation in Danipropetrovsk as “difficult” for the Kiev forces, Ukrainian military expert Alexei Kopitko said Russia wanted to create some kind of buffer zone in the region.

“Our forces are maintaining their position very stable,” he said.

Trust in partners

The White House said last week it had stopped shipping some of the main weapons promised by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden to Ukraine, without giving details of what weapons programs were affected.

Washington said the decision was made after reviewing US defence needs and military assistance to foreign countries.

Kiev has long feared a halt to U.S. aid after Trump returned to the White House in January, criticizing biden’s billions of dollars in support and weapons. Under the Biden administration, Washington pledged more than $65 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

Trump has not announced any new military aid package for Kyiv since taking office for the second time. Instead, the Republican president pushed both sides into peace talks, including a phone call with Putin. Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a request for a cease-fire and demanded that Ukraine hand over more territory if it wants to end the war.

Ahead of Trump’s remarks on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said air defence was a “top priority to save lives” and that his country was relying on partners to “fully accomplish what we’ve agreed upon.”

Explosions were heard in the southern Ukrainian city of Maikolive from night until Tuesday. Mayor Oleksandr Schenkevich wrote on Telegram that the “drone threat” continues.

Maikolive’s regional governor Vitaly Kim said a 51-year-old man had been injured when shelling on the outskirts of the city caused the fire.