Europe will buy weapons for Ukraine from the US

Europe has neither the weapons stockpiles nor the capacity to produce them in sufficient quantities to provide for Ukraine.

At the same time, it is becoming clear that the US will no longer supply weapons to Ukraine and has rejected European calls to tighten sanctions against Russia to force it to agree to an immediate ceasefire.

As Bloomberg's interlocutors noted, a proposal that is gaining more credibility is to purchase more American systems and then send these weapons to Ukraine.

The idea is that if Trump refuses to send American weapons to Ukraine, Europe will do it. That would help Ukraine contain Russia’s offensive and could put new pressure on Putin to take a ceasefire seriously. And if the Europeans can convince Trump to keep providing intelligence to Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky may be able to hold out.

The sources said they expected the United States to continue sharing intelligence with Ukraine to help identify targets. The brief halt to that cooperation created operational problems for Kyiv but also raised broader concerns among U.S. allies that they could face similar treatment in the future.

Experts say that arms supplies to Ukraine, approved and funded by former President Joe Biden, could end this summer, and that Europe will struggle to produce enough weapons to fill the gap. Putin will try to take advantage of this dynamic, experts say.