Trump says there is a 'high possibility' he will cut aid to Ukraine
US President-elect Donald Trump has said it is 'highly likely' he will cut Washington's aid to Ukraine once he takes office.
Trump made the remarks in an interview with NBC that aired hours after calling for an "immediate cessation of hostilities" between Russia and Ukraine.
In the interview, Trump was asked if Ukraine should prepare for less aid from the United States after he is sworn in next January, and he responded by saying "it's possible. Yes, it's very possible, it's definitely possible".
According to figures released by the US Department of Defense, the Pentagon earlier this month, Washington allocated $131.36 billion for Ukraine as of February 2022, but the German Kiel Institute for World Economics said that less than $90 billion of that has been provided to Ukraine.
Throughout his campaign, Trump repeatedly promised that he would end the Ukraine conflict within "24 hours" of taking office, without providing specific details on how he would achieve this.
However, it is believed that he will use the threat of cutting US aid to force Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to negotiate, and the threat of increasing aid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to sit at the negotiating table.
On Saturday, Trump met with Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris for a one-on-one meeting that he reportedly "reluctantly" attended. However, none of the three spoke to reporters to explain what was discussed during the 40-minute meeting.
