President Donald Trump may sign off on the first new package of military funding for Ukraine of up to $3.8bn since taking office at the start of this year, CBS News reported on July 12, citing multiple diplomatic sources.

The proposal comes as Trump’s mood has soured significantly following his last phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where he said “no progress” had been made. Putin launched an intense missile war the following day that has only escalated since then as ceasefire talks have stalled. In the last week Trump has made his most pro-Ukraine, anti-Russia comments since he took over six months ago.

Despite the rhetoric, Trump has made no new allocations of money or materiel for Ukraine. Indeed, Trump halted all aid to Ukraine in the first weeks of taking office, and more recently the Pentagon halted all new weapons deliveries again, only for Trump to reverse the decision a few days later.

As the Russian bombardment intensifies, it seems that Trump may throw his support behind Ukraine after all, although the mercurial Trump remains highly unpredictable, experts say. White House sources told the US press that the possible funding is being considered partly to send a message to Russia as Trump’s frustration at not being able to end the conflict grows.

“Putin is not treating human beings right. He’s killing too many people,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting last week. “So we’re sending some defensive weapons to Ukraine, and I’ve approved that.”

Trump has already said that he intends to supply Ukraine with additional defensive weapons, specifically more Patriot air defence systems, although he has actually ordered only ten Patriot interceptor rockets to be transferred so far, Axios reports.

The origin of the potential new funding remains unclear. However, US officials told CBS News that Trump retains access to $3.8bn in unused presidential drawdown authority left over from the Biden administration. That money could be employed to transfer American military equipment to Ukraine. In addition, former officials noted that the president also has the legal authority to seize approximately $5bn from the $300bn of frozen Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reserves and send them to support Ukraine. Unlike the EU, which remains extremely reluctant to confiscate Russia’s frozen cash, saying it is “legally difficult”, the US Congress has already passed laws to allow the seizure.

Trump had previously criticised Biden’s funding of the Ukraine conflict as a “waste of money,” and urged Kyiv and Moscow to seek a negotiated settlement.

Separately, the Senate Armed Services Committee approved $500mn in security assistance for Ukraine on July 9, as part of its draft Fiscal Year 2026 National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) – an annual policy bill that authorises funding levels and provides authorities for the US military that is under the control of the Senate.

This year the provision for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2028 was increased to $500mn from $300mn in 2025. The NDAA supports a total of $925bn in funding for national defence.

Speaking in Malaysia on Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to offer specifics on any new plan, but noted: “At the end of the day, some of the systems that Ukraine requires are systems that Europe doesn’t make. They would have to purchase them from the United States.”

In parallel to the talk of new commitments by the US to Ukraine Trump announced on July 11 that Nato will pick up the bill for Ukraine from now on, effectively taking the US out of the war and handing responsibility for supporting Kyiv to Europe.

"We’re sending weapons to Nato, and Nato is paying for those weapons, 100%. So, what we’re doing is the weapons that are going out are going to Nato, and then Nato is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and Nato is paying for those weapons," he said in an interview with NBC News, adding the deal was struck at the Nato summit in The Hague last weekend.