Giving weapons to Russia’s enemy

Trump in December agreed for the first time to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine to defend against Russian-backed forces who seized territory in the eastern Donbas region.

Congress had approved lethal weapons sales to Ukraine in 2014, but then-president Barack Obama declined to follow through, and Trump also put off the decision for months. Trump’s campaign aides pressed to remove a clause about providing Ukraine with lethal weapons from the GOP platform in the summer of 2016, replacing it “appropriate assistance.”