Pentagon chief personally ordered halt to military supplies to Ukraine – NBC News

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth unilaterally ordered a halt to the transfer of certain types of weapons to Ukraine despite a military analysis having established that these supplies would not pose a threat to US combat readiness.

Source: NBC News, citing three US officials, as reported by European Pravda

Details: The US Department of Defense had justified the suspension of military supplies to Ukraine by citing concerns about shortages of certain weapons in US stockpiles.

However, according to the three sources, an analysis by senior military officials found that the aid package delayed by the US would not jeopardise the American military’s reserves.

According to several sources, the decision to halt arms deliveries astonished the Department of State, members of Congress, officials in Kyiv and European allies.

Democratic Congressman Adam Smith, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, disagreed that supplies to Ukraine would jeopardise US stocks.

"We are not at any lower point, stockpile-wise, than we’ve been in the 3½ years of the Ukraine conflict," he said.

Smith added that his staff had seen the figures and, without going into details, noted that there were no signs of a shortage that would justify suspending aid to Ukraine.

Sources also told NBC News that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had unilaterally suspended military aid to Ukraine.

According to the sources, this is the third time Hegseth has independently suspended aid to Ukraine. In the two previous cases, in February and May, his decisions were reversed a few days later.

Hegseth’s deputy for policy, Elbridge Colby, supported these steps.

Lawmakers from both parties were disappointed that they were not informed in advance and were investigating whether the delayed shipment violated legislation mandating security assistance for Ukraine.

These lawmakers and some European allies were trying to determine why the Pentagon had ordered the suspension and making every effort to have the decision reversed.

The White House has defended the decision, saying it was made following a Defense Department review of US assistance provided to allies and partners abroad, which began last month.

The review began after Hegseth issued a memo ordering the Joint Staff to check stockpiles of all munitions.

According to three officials, the assessment showed that some stocks of precision-guided munitions were at lower levels but had not yet fallen below critical minimums.

The sources added that the Joint Staff had concluded that providing further assistance to Ukraine would not deplete US stocks below the level necessary to ensure military readiness.

Background:

• Earlier this week, the White House confirmed that the Pentagon had suspended deliveries of some air defence missiles and other precision-guided munitions to Ukraine.
• The official reason given was that there were concerns that US weapons stocks had been depleted.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine was working with the US "at working levels" to clarify the details of military aid supplies following reports of the suspension of deliveries.
• US President Donald Trump said that US weapons supplies to Ukraine are continuing, but his administration has to ensure that there are enough for US forces as well.

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