Media reports Italy won’t purchase US weapons for Ukraine
(MENAFN) Italy has decided not to participate in US President Donald Trump’s plan to supply American weapons to Ukraine, citing budget limitations, according to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, which cited unnamed sources.
Trump announced on Monday that new arms deliveries to Ukraine would proceed, provided European NATO countries fund the purchases, calling it a “very big deal.” However, La Stampa reported on Wednesday that Italy will not follow Germany’s lead—where Chancellor Friedrich Merz has committed to sending several Patriot missile systems to Ukraine.
Sources told the paper that Italy’s refusal is due both to technological differences in the weapon systems it has already supplied to Kiev and, more importantly, to its extremely limited budget for such operations, unlike Germany’s. The only planned US arms purchase by Italy is for F35 fighter jets, scheduled for delivery in the 2030s.
Meanwhile, Politico reported on Tuesday that France also plans to forgo buying US weapons for Ukraine, preferring to invest in its own defense industry to address European security concerns. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Publico that Prague is “not considering” joining the US-led initiative either, focusing instead on other ways to assist Ukraine.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas welcomed Trump’s pledge to send more weapons but called on Washington to “share the burden” of financing the deliveries. The US has threatened to impose secondary tariffs of up to 100% on Russia’s trading partners if no peace progress is made within 50 days.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the Western arms financing plan, attributing European NATO members’ readiness to spend heavily on weapons to an “emotional state bordering on inadequacy” over the Ukraine conflict. He warned that this spending risks further provoking the war’s continuation.
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