Who stopped flights with weapons deliveries to Ukraine? A Reuters investigation shows that Trump did not know the order given by Hegseth

About a week after Donald Trump started his second term of president, the US Army issued an order for three air transport companies, operating from Dover Air Force from Delaware and an American base in the United Arab Emirates, suspending 11 flights with artillery projectiles and other types of armament, on Tuesday, On this topic, Agerpres cites.

In just a few hours, the questions ran in Șvovoi in Washington from the persons from Kiev and Poland, where the transports were coordinated. Who ordered the US Transport Command, known as Transcom to stop flights? Is it a permanent interruption of all aids? Or just some of them?

Top officials in the field of national security – from the White House, Pentagon and the State Department – could not give answers. In a week, flights were resumed.

The suspension verbal order came from Pete Hegseth's office, the Secretary of Defense, according to the transcom records analyzed by Reuters.

The cancellation of flights with aid intervened after a meeting convened by Trump on January 30 in the Oval Office on Ukraine, attended by Hegseth and other top officials in the field of national security, according to three sources familiar with the situation. During this meeting the idea of ​​suspending the aid for Ukraine had appeared, two people were aware of the meeting, but the US president did not give any instructions to suspend aid for Ukraine, they say.

The president did not know the order of Hegseth, like other top officials in the field of national security present at the meeting, according to two informed sources on private discussions at the White House and another who directly knows the subject.

At the request to comment on this information, the White House told Reuters that Hegseth followed a directive by Trump to interrupt the help granted to Ukraine, which, according to her, corresponded to the US administration at the time. But he did not explain why, according to those who spoke with Reuters. Neither why top officials in the field of national security involved in the ordinary decision -making process did not know about the order or why it was annulled so quickly.

“The negotiation of the conclusion of the Russia-Ukraine war was a complex and fluid situation. We will not detail every discussion between the top officials of the administration throughout the process,” said Karoline Leavitt, the spokesman of the White House. “The conclusion is that the war is much closer to the end today than it was when President Trump took over,” she added.

How much did the canceled flights cost

These cancels cost Transcom $ 2.2 million, according to Reuters records. In response to a comment request, Transcom said that, in total, it was $ 1.6 million – 11 flights were canceled, but one was not subject to any tax.

The order of suspension of the authorized military aid under the Biden administration entered into force a month later, on March 4, through an announcement of the White House.

The history of the way in which the respective flights have been canceled, detailed for the first time by Reuters, reveals a process of developing the policies sometimes chaotic within the Trump administration and an unclear control structure even for their own high -ranking members. The break of several days in those flights, confirmed by five people familiar with the problem, also shows the confused way in which the administration elaborates and implements the national security policy.

At Pentagon, disorder is a secret in sight, many current and former officials saying that the department is affected by internal disagreements regarding foreign policy, deeply rooted and experienced resentment.

Reuters could not determine exactly when Hegseth's office ordered the cancellation of flights. Two sources said that Ukrainian and European officials began to ask about the break on February 2. Transcom records indicate that there was a verbal order from “SecDef” – the Minister of Defense – who stopped the flights and that they were resumed by February 5.

“All this is part of the policy of the current administration to act quickly, to break things and to solve them later. This is their management philosophy,” says Mark Cancian, reserve officer and defense expert at the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It is formidable for Silicon Valley. But when you talk about institutions that have been around for hundreds of years, you will have problems,” he notes.

Dismay in Kyiv

The suspension of transport with aid caused consternation to Kyiv. The Ukrainians quickly requested information to the Washington administration through several channels, but had difficulty in obtaining useful information, according to a Ukrainian official with direct knowledge about this situation. In subsequent discussions with the Ukrainians, the American administration has qualified the break as “internal politics”, a source said. Ukrainian officials did not respond to commentary requests from Reuters.

The transport of US weapons to Ukraine requires the approval of several agencies and may take weeks or even months, depending on the load size. Most of the US military assistance passes through a logistical center in Poland, before being taken over by Ukrainian representatives and transported to the country.

It is not clear whether the 11 canceled flights were the only ones scheduled that week in February, as much aid was already stored in Poland and if it continued to arrive in Ukraine despite Transcom orders, according to Reuters investigation.

Who did Hegseth advise with

Four other people informed about the situation said that a limited group of Pentagon employees, many of whom have never held a government function and have been pronounced for years against US aid, advised Hegseth to take into account the aid for this country.

Two people familiar with the file denied the existence of a real aid interruption. One of them said it was a logistical break.

According to two sources to the meeting in the Oval Office, Hegseth came up with a memory drafted by some of his most important political councilors, who claimed that he should insist on discontinuing weapons to Ukraine in order to obtain an advantage in peace negotiations with Russia.

Sources said Hegseth participated in the meeting with other senior officials involved in Ukraine, including Mike Waltz national security counselor and Ukraine Keith Kellogg. The group has discussed extensively about US policy on Ukraine and Russia, including the possible tightening of sanctions against Moscow.

Trump did not give any order

Since the beginning of the large -scale invasion of Russia in February 2022, the US have approved billions of dollars for Ukraine. Most of it was delivered under the Biden Administration. But some deliveries remained in the preparation stage, being expected for this summer.

Trump has repeatedly threatened during the election campaign that he would freeze help for Kiev, but he hasn't done so yet, notes Reuters. And during the meeting mentioned in the Oval Office, he refused to stop the help for Ukraine or order Hegseth to implement any policy changes in sending equipment to Kiev, the sources consulted by the British press agency said.

The break in deliveries intervened while the Ukrainian army strived to reject the Russian forces from eastern Ukraine, and in the Russian region Kursk lost ground, and since then they were expelled.

It is not known if Trump later asked Hegseth or if he applied him any reprimand. A source familiar with the file said that, finally, the Waltz national security counselor intervened to resume flights to Ukraine. Waltz was forced to leave last Thursday and expect to be called US ambassador to the United Nations.

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