Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly didn’t inform President Trump or search his permission earlier than ordering a pause in shipments of arms to embattled Ukraine final week.
Trump was sad and pissed off to search out out concerning the Pentagon chief’s controversial determination, which the president shortly reversed after a high-stakes assembly with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in keeping with CNN, which cited 5 administration officers.
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks throughout a information convention on the Pentagon. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photographs)
The pause in important weapons deliveries to Ukraine blindsided Trump at an ungainly second as he seems to be pivoting to a extra important stance in direction of Russia after months of enjoying good with strongman Vladimir Putin.
Trump stated Tuesday at a cupboard assembly that he didn’t know who determined to briefly halt arms shipments to Kyiv.
Hegseth, a former Fox TV host who has stumbled by means of a number of controversies throughout his six months in workplace, sat silently subsequent to Trump with out volunteering any details about the choice that apparently got here on his watch.
A Pentagon spokesperson downplayed the snafu.
“Hegseth provided a framework for the President to evaluate military aid shipments and assess existing stockpiles. This effort was coordinated across government,” press secretary Kingsley Wilson stated in an announcement.
The pause is the second time the Pentagon has reduce off provides to Kyiv with out the expressed permission of Trump after an analogous incident in February, CNN reported.
The newest pause got here at a troublesome second for Ukraine which is battling a Russian summer season offensive on the entrance strains in jap Ukraine and rising marketing campaign of missile and drone assaults on civilian targets.
It affected shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles, Howitzer rounds and extra.
The incident comes as Trump seems to be shifting his stance in direction of Putin and has sounded more and more exasperated with the Russian chief in current days.
The 2 leaders spoke by cellphone final week. However Trump conceded they made no progress towards a peace deal or perhaps a ceasefire, which Trump has been demanding in useless for months.
Trump has threatened, however held off on, imposing new sanctions towards Russia to prod Putin into peace talks. In the meantime, Trump has sounded extra happy along with his interactions with Zelenskyy, who was in his canine home after a stormy White Home assembly final winter.
The White Home has stated Trump nonetheless has confidence in Hegseth. The protection chief survived a March scandal over his disclosure of delicate army operational particulars of a strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen on an unsecure chat group on the Sign messaging app that included a reporter.
