US defence secretary Pete Hegseth cancelled military aid to Ukraine without a direct order from Donald Trump about a week after he was sworn in as president, according to a report.
The pause led to the US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) stopping 11 flights from US bases in Delaware and Qatar which were loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry and had been bound for Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Hours later, Ukrainian and Polish officials then asked Washington what was happening but top national security officials in the White House, Pentagon and US State Department were unable to provide answers, said the news agency.
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The pause came as Ukraine’s military was struggling to fight off Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and in the consequential battle for Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces were losing ground and have since all but been forced out.
Reuters reported that records it reviewed showed Mr Hegseth had given a verbal order to stop the weapons shipments soon after attending an Oval Office meeting on 30 January, where cutting military aid to Kyiv was discussed, but Mr Trump did not give an instruction to stop it.
The president was unaware of Mr Hegseth’s order, as were other top national security officials in the meeting, Reuters said.
According to TRANSCOM records, the verbal order originated from Mr Hegseth’s office, the news agency claimed. It added that a TRANSCOM spokesperson said the command received the order via the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
Within a week – 5 February, the military flights were back in the air.
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Asked to comment on the report, the White House told Reuters that Mr Hegseth had followed a directive from President Trump to pause aid to Ukraine, which it said was the administration’s position at the time.
It did not explain why, according to those who spoke to Reuters, top national security officials in the normal decision-making process did not know about the order or why it was so swiftly reversed.
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‘Complex and fluid situation’
“Negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a complex and fluid situation. We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
“The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office.”
It is unclear if Mr Trump subsequently questioned or reprimanded Mr Hegseth.
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Mr Hegseth and other top US officials, including national security adviser Mike Waltz, came under fire in March after a journalist was accidentally added to a group chat where they discussed plans to conduct airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis.
Waltz ultimately intervened
Reuters reported Mr Waltz ultimately intervened to reverse the military aid cancellations. Mr Waltz was forced out last Thursday and has been nominated as US ambassador to the United Nations.
The cancellations cost TRANSCOM $2.2m (£1.6m), according to the records reviewed by Reuters. In response to a request for comment, TRANSCOM said that the total cost was $1.6m (£1.2m) – 11 flights were cancelled but one incurred no charge.
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An order halting military aid authorised under the Biden administration went into effect officially a month later, on 4 March, when the White House made an announcement.
Despite the brief pause in February and the longer one that began in early March, the Trump administration has resumed sending the last of the aid approved under Mr Biden. No new policy has been announced.
