WASHINGTON (AP): The State Department said Wednesday that it has approved $322 million in proposed weapons sales to Ukraine to enhance its air defense capabilities and provide armored combat vehicles, coming as the country works to fend off escalating Russian attacks.The potential sales, which the department said were notified to Congress, include $150 million for the supply, maintenance, repair and overhaul of US armored vehicles, and $172 million for surface-to-air missile systems.The approvals come weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed a pause on other weapons shipments to Ukraine to allow the Pentagon to assess its weapons stockpiles, in a move that caught the White House by surprise. President Donald Trump then made an abrupt change in posture, pledging publicly earlier this month to continue to send weapons to Ukraine.“We have to,” Trump said. “They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now. We’re going to send some more weapons — defensive weapons primarily.”Trump recently endorsed a plan to have European allies buy US military equipment that can then be transferred to Ukraine. It was not immediately clear how the latest proposed sales related to that arrangement.Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US has provided more than $67 billion in weapons and security assistance to Kyiv.Since Trump came back into office, his administration has gone back and forth about providing more military aid to Ukraine, with political pressure to stop US funding of foreign wars coming from the isolationists inside the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill.Over the course of the war, the US has routinely pressed for allies to provide air defense systems to Ukraine. But many are reluctant to give up the high-tech systems, particularly countries in Eastern Europe that also feel threatened by Russia.