Pentagon allowed to retain part of arms contracted for Ukraine

CNN reports.

According to four sources familiar with a memorandum prepared last month by the Pentagon’s policy chief, some of the equipment contracted under the USAI initiative may now remain in the United States.

“The memo gives DOD the authority to take back weapons that were already contracted to Ukraine,” said one of the sources who’s read the memo. “That appears to undermine what the President has said the US is doing to get Ukraine to what it needs.”

Although the outlet’s sources say the weapons have likely not yet been redirected, this provision could deprive Ukraine of billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. arms that were to be delivered in the coming months and years.

• U.S. and Russian officials are reportedly working on an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that would cement Moscow’s control over the occupied territories.