At a poorly attended Turning Point USA event on April 14, 2026, Vice President JD Vance called ending Ukraine military aid “one of the things I'm proudest that we've done in this administration.” He added: “We've told Europe that if you want to buy weapons, you can, but the United States is not buying weapons and sending them to Ukraine anymore.”
Vance also recalled dismissing a Ukrainian-American who confronted him during a campaign event about ending Ukraine funding: “Sir, with all due respect, if you're an American, your country is the United States of America, not a place that you immigrated from.”
The boast came days after Vance returned from failed Iran peace talks in Islamabad and as Ukraine faces critical defense shortages. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy reported U.S. military aid to Ukraine dropped 99% in 2025 compared to 2024 — from an average of roughly 17.3 billion euros annually to just 0.4 billion euros. European allies increased aid by 67% but total support still fell 13% below the 2022-2024 annual average.
Zelensky reported Patriot missile shortages that “could not be any worse.” The Iran war has further strained global weapons supply chains, deepening Ukraine's defense gap.
Vance has been the most vocal anti-Ukraine voice in the administration. His most infamous pre-invasion quote: “I gotta be honest with you, I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another” (February 19, 2022 — five days before Russia's full-scale invasion). A week before the TPUSA event, he told a Budapest audience that disputed Ukrainian territory amounted to “haggling over a few square kilometers” — a claim the Kyiv Post fact-checked as false (the disputed area is 135,845 sq km, larger than England).