- Trump denies that he is holding back interceptors and ammunition for the war in Ukraine, saying that the United States has huge stockpiles of ammunition and that the problem is due to the need to deliver it.
- The Washington Post reported that the denial came after Trump said he was concerned about the shortage of ammunition and threatened long prison sentences.
- CNN and CSIS say the United States is holding back supplies for THAAD and Patriot, while Reuters reports that the issue concerns the supply of ATACMS and PrSM.
For more on this, see Hospodářské noviny and České noviny.
President Donald Trump denied claims that he is withholding interceptors for the war in Ukraine. In a post that the media say he made on Truth Social, Trump said the United States may have huge supplies of interceptors and that the problem is likely due to the need to deliver them.
Meanwhile, according to The Washington Post, which cited unnamed sources, the newspaper reported that Trump’s comments were linked to the possibility that intercepted air defense systems might be delayed. The outlet said that the issue could be related to the fact that the United States has been discussing with allies whether to provide air defense interceptors and ammunition.
In a separate report, The Washington Post said that Trump was responding to an assessment by the newspaper that the United States had delayed supplies of interceptors for the air defense system at Camp David. In the same report, the paper said Trump said that there was no problem with supplies and that, if necessary, he would increase deliveries.
Materials also published that Trump’s denial came after a report from the system that the United States has been discussing whether to hold back interceptors for the Patriot air defense system. It was also said that Trump, who according to the report was referring to a “lack of ammunition,” could be using the issue to justify his position and that the United States may have enough interceptors and ammunition.
In an analysis, the publication said that the new information about the Patriot air defense system was related to the fact that interceptors may be delayed, and that the problem is due to the lack of supplies for the system.
According to CNN, the American arm of the CSIS think tank said in a report that the United States has been holding back 80% of the missiles for the THAAD and nearly 2200 missiles for Patriot. CSIS says that the United States has held back 452 missiles for THAAD.
The materials also cite Reuters information that, according to an American arms company, the United States has been holding back supplies of ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers and PrSM missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers.