Vice President JD Vance called ending US weapons transfers to Ukraine “one of the proudest” achievements of the Trump administration Tuesday night, days after returning from failed Iran peace talks and as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year.
“One of the things I’m proudest that we’ve done in this administration is 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 told a Turning Point USA crowd at the University of Georgia in Athens.
The remarks came at one of Vance’s first public appearances since his diplomatic trip to Pakistan, where US-Iran negotiations collapsed without a deal.
The event was poorly attended — hundreds protested outside — and Erika Kirk, widow of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk and the organization’s CEO, canceled her appearance after organizers said she had received “very serious threats.”
Vance was heckled during the on-stage interview. One protester shouted about Gaza; another about the Iran war. Vance brushed off the disruptions and rejected suggestions that the administration would face losses in the November midterms.
Congress approved more than $188 billion in Ukraine-related spending between 2022 and the end of 2025, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. US military aid to Ukraine has been effectively zero since mid-2025, with the gap filled by European allies.
Ukraine signed 10-year defense cooperation agreements with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE in March, turning its frontline drone and robotics expertise into a new export industry.
The Kyiv Independent first reported Vance’s remarks.
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