Ukraine looks to jointly produce weapons with allies as the US halts some shipments

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is forging ahead with early plans for joint weapons production with some international allies, top officials said, while warning Wednesday of potential consequences of the U.S. decision to halt some arms shipments promised to help Kyiv fight off Russia's invasion.

“Any delay or hesitation in supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities will only encourage the aggressor to continue war and terror, not seek peace,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said.

A renewed Russian push to capture more land has put Ukraine’s short-handed defenses under severe strain in the all-out war launched by Moscow nearly 3½ years ago. Russian missiles and drones are battering Ukrainian cities. U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to find a peace settlement have stalled.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said it hadn't received any official U.S. notification of a suspension or revision of agreed arms delivery schedules. Officials have requested a phone call with their U.S. counterparts to verify the status of specific items in the pipeline, it said in a statement.

As Washington — Ukraine’s biggest military backer — has distanced itself from Ukraine's war efforts under President Donald Trump, a bigger onus has fallen on European countries.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday held their first direct telephone call in almost three years. Macron’s office said that during their two-hour conversation, the French leader underlined France’s “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and called for a ceasefire.

Washington’s decision could remove some of the most formidable weapons in Ukraine’s battlefield arsenal, including some air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons, according to AP sources.

The U.S. decision should prompt European Union countries to spend more on developing Ukraine’s defense industry, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said.

“It just underlines the need for Europe to do more, and also to invest more in Ukraine,” Lund Poulsen told reporters. “We could do even more, to give them a stronger way of fighting back.”

Denmark on Tuesday took over the EU's rotating presidency for six months. It is already investing directly in Ukraine’s defense industry, which can produce arms and ammunition more quickly and cheaply than elsewhere in Europe.

Denmark is also allowing companies from Ukraine to set up shop in Denmark and manufacture military equipment on safer ground. Lund Poulsen said the first companies could start work as soon as September, and he urged European partners to follow suit.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his daily address on Tuesday evening said officials are preparing with a sense of urgency for upcoming meetings with EU countries and other partners to talk about cooperation in weapons manufacturing.

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced that draft legislation on joint weapons production with allies is expected to be put to a vote in the Ukrainian parliament later this month. The proposed laws were shown to national defense companies on Tuesday, Umerov said.

The program includes plans to create a special legal and tax framework to help Ukrainian defense manufacturers scale up and modernize production, including building new facilities at home and abroad, according to Umerov.

Earlier this week, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said during a visit to Kyiv that Germany aims to help Ukraine manufacture more weapons more quickly. He was accompanied on the trip by German defense industry representatives.

The U.S. is halting some weapons deliveries to Ukraine out of concern that its own stockpiles have declined too far, officials said Tuesday. Certain munitions were longer-term commitments promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration, though the Defense Department didn't provide details on what specific weapons were being held back.

The details on the weapons in some of the paused deliveries were confirmed by a U.S. official and former national security official familiar with the matter. Both requested anonymity to discuss what is being held up as the Pentagon has yet to provide details. The halt includes some shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. chargé d’affaires, John Hinkel, on Wednesday to discuss ongoing defense cooperation.

Deputy Foreign Minister Maryana Betsa thanked the U.S. for its continued support, but emphasized the “critical importance” of maintaining previously allocated defense packages, especially for bolstering Ukraine’s air defense.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Pentagon's decision will help bring a settlement closer, because "the fewer weapons supplied to Ukraine, the closer the end of the (war) is.”

Under Trump, there have been no new announcements of U.S. military or weapons aid to Ukraine. Between March and April, the United States allocated no new aid to Ukraine, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute, which tracks such support.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor on Feb. 24, 2022. For the first time since June 2022, European countries surpassed the U.S. in total military aid, totaling 72 billion euros ($85 billion) compared with 65 billion euros ($77 billion) from the U.S., the institute said last month.

Analysts say Ukraine’s European allies can fill some of the gaps and provide artillery systems. But they don’t possess alternatives to the U.S.-made HIMARS missiles and air defense systems, especially Patriots, which are crucial to help defend Ukrainian cities.

It's not clear how much weaponry Ukraine possesses or what its most urgent needs are.

Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

FILE - A manufacturer demonstrates a Ukrainian made unmanned ground vehicle at a Ukraine Defense Innovations exhibition for military clients on an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - Ukrainian-made fixed-wing Besomar 3210 drone interceptors are handed over to the Armed Forces by Kozytskyi Charity Foundation in an undisclosed location in the Lviv region, western Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys, File)

FILE - A manufacturer demonstrates a Ukrainian made drone at a Ukraine Defense Innovations exhibition for military clients on an undisclosed location in Ukraine, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack, officials said Friday, killing at least four people. For only the second time, it used a new ballistic missile that it says flies at 10 times the speed of sound and is unstoppable.

The intense barrage and the launching of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile came days after Ukraine and its allies reported major progress toward agreeing on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a peace deal is struck to end Russia’s almost 4-year-old invasion.

Months of U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to stop the fighting, however. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has made significant progress on the terms of a possible peace settlement in talks with Washington envoys. But Moscow has given no public signal it is willing to budge from its demands.

The attack comes amid a new chill in relations between Moscow and Washington after Russia condemned the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker in the North Atlantic. It also comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled he is on board with a hard-hitting sanctions package meant to economically cripple Moscow.

Ukrainian officials said four people were killed and at least 22 wounded in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, during the overnight attack as apartment buildings were struck.

Those killed included an emergency medical aid worker, according to Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. Five rescue workers sustained injuries while responding to the ongoing attacks, Ukraine’s security service said.

The attack damaged the Qatari Embassy in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Friday. He noted that Qatar has played a key role in mediating the exchange of prisoners of war.

He called for a “clear response” from the international community, particularly from the United States, which he said Russia takes seriously.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack was a retaliation to what Moscow said was a Ukrainian drone strike on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence last month. Both Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump have rejected the Russian claim of the attack on Putin’s residence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that the Oreshnik streaks to its target at Mach 10, “like a meteorite,” and has claimed it is immune to any missile defense system. Several of them used in a conventional strike could be as devastating as a nuclear attack, according to Putin, who has warned the West that Russia could use the Oreshnik next against allies of Kyiv that allow it to strike inside Russia with their longer-range missiles.

Ukrainian intelligence says the missile has six warheads, each carrying six submunitions.

Russia didn’t say where Oreshnik hit, but Russian media and military bloggers said it targeted a huge underground natural gas storage facility in Ukraine’s western Lviv region. Foreign military aid for Ukraine is believed to pass through that region, which borders Poland.

Russia first used the Oreshnik missile on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024. Analysts say it affords Russia a new element of psychological warfare, unnerving Ukrainians and scaring Western countries that supply weaponry to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine would be initiating international action in response to the use of the missile, including an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council.

“Such a strike close to EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” he said in a post on X.

Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said that Russia struck critical infrastructure with a ballistic missile, but didn't give details. He said the missile traveled at a speed of 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) per hour — which would be around Mach 10 — and that the specific type of rocket was being investigated.

In Kyiv, several districts were hit in the attack, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko. In the Desnyanskyi district a drone crashed onto the roof of a multi-story building. At another address in the same district the first two floors of a residential building were damaged.

In Dnipro district, parts of a drone damaged a multistory building and a fire broke out.

Dmytro Karpenko's windows were shattered in the attack on Kyiv. When he saw that his neighbor's house was on fire, he rushed out to help him.

“What Russia is doing, of course, shows that they do not want peace. But people really want peace, people are suffering, people are dying," the 45-year old said.

Running water and electricity were disrupted in parts of the capital as a result of the attack, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

The attack took place just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alerted the nation about Russia’s intentions for a large-scale offensive. He said that Russia aimed to take advantage of the frigid weather in the capital that has made roads and streets perilously icy.

A previous version of this story corrected the style on Andriy Sadoviy to Andrii Sadovyi.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A rescue worker tries to put out a fire at a residential building damaged after a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A residential building is seen damaged after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The dead body of a paramedic lies on the ground in front of a residential building damaged by a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

A residential building burns after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A residential building is seen damaged after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential building damaged by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential building damaged by a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A residential building burns after a Russian strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)