Hegseth cancels 11 weapons flights to Ukraine in first week of Trump’s presidency

Reuters reported the story.

According to the report, about a week after the inauguration, the U.S. military told three cargo airlines flying from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and a U.S. base in the UAE to halt 11 planned shipments of artillery ammunition headed for Ukraine.

News of the sudden halt quickly raised alarms in Kyiv and among Ukraine’s partners in Poland, who were helping coordinate the deliveries. Questions followed: Who ordered the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) to stop the flights? Was this a total cutoff, or just a temporary hold?

At the time, senior officials from the White House, Pentagon, and State Department couldn’t give a straight answer. A week later, the flights resumed.

TRANSCOM documents show the verbal order to cancel came straight from the office of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

According to three sources, the order followed a January 30 Oval Office meeting on Ukraine, attended by Trump, Hegseth, and top national security officials.

Sources said the idea of stopping aid was discussed, but Trump didn’t give a formal directive.

Surprisingly, Trump and many senior security officials weren’t even aware that Hegseth had issued the order. In an official statement, the White House said Hegseth was acting on the administration’s direction at the time, but didn’t explain the sudden reversal or why key people weren’t informed.

"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 Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman. “The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office.”

Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps officer and defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the episode reflected Trump’s “managing philosophy” of making fast, bold moves and dealing with the fallout later. He noted that this kind of approach doesn’t work well in traditional government institutions, especially in defense.

Canceling the flights cost TRANSCOM $2.2 million.

Reuters also pointed out that the episode exposed internal disagreements inside the Pentagon over U.S. foreign policy and how military aid is handled.

• On May 3, Reuters, citing U.S. officials, reported that new U.S. economic sanctions against Russia had been finalized, but it’s unclear if President Trump will approve the package.