After the Pentagon paused U.S. shipments of some weapons to Ukraine last week over concerns about declining U.S. stockpiles (President Donald Trump said “we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves”), Ukrainian Ambassador Mariana Betsa warned that the pause “will only encourage Russia to continue war and terror.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Thursday that the war in Ukraine would end more quickly if fewer Western weapons were supplied to Kyiv.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, responded to the pause of weapons on social media by writing: “Trump suspended military aid to Ukraine and Putin immediately expanded his attacks against Ukraine. Putin makes Trump and the United States look weak. Hope Trump finally realizes this and reverses course.”
Trump suspended military aid to Ukraine and Putin immediately expanded his attacks against Ukraine.
Putin makes Trump and the United States look weak.
Hope Trump finally realizes this and reverses course.
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) July 5, 2025
With data from the Institute of the Study of War (below) which shows that since January, “the size of Russia’s missile and drone attacks on the people of Ukraine have grown by 5x,” McFaul tagged President Trump and wrote: “Shocking. @POTUS, Putin is not respecting you. He thinks you are weak. Please prove him wrong.”
Shocking.
.@POTUS, Putin is not respecting you. He thinks you are weak. Please prove him wrong. https://t.co/2uTF7Rqdb3
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) July 7, 2025
Note: McFaul, a New York Times bestselling author, is promoting his new book, Autocrats vs. Democrats: China, Russia, America and the New Global Disorder, which will be released in October 2025. In Autocrats vs. Democrats, McFaul makes the case against America’s retreat from the world.