Hegseth didn't tell Trump about Ukraine arms pause, report says

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jul 9, 2025

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly didn’t tell President Trump or seek his permission before ordering a pause in shipments of arms to embattled Ukraine last week.

Trump was unhappy and frustrated to find out about the Pentagon chief’s controversial decision, which the president quickly reversed after a high-stakes meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to CNN, which cited five administration officials.

The pause in critical weapons deliveries to Ukraine blindsided Trump at an awkward moment as he appears to be pivoting to a more critical stance towards Russia after months of playing nice with strongman Vladimir Putin.

Trump said Tuesday at a cabinet meeting that he didn’t know who decided to temporarily halt arms shipments to Kyiv.

Hegseth, a former Fox TV host who has stumbled through several controversies during his six months in his post, sat silently next to Trump without volunteering any information about the decision that apparently came 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 said in a statement.

The pause is the second time the Pentagon has cut off supplies to Kyiv without the expressed permission of Trump after a similar incident in February, CNN reported.

The latest pause came at a tough moment for Ukraine which is battling a Russian summer offensive on the front lines in eastern Ukraine and increasing campaign of missile and drone attacks on civilian targets.

It affected shipments of Patriot missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles, Howitzer rounds and more.

The incident comes as Trump appears to be shifting his stance towards Putin and has sounded increasingly exasperated with the Russian leader in recent days.

The two leaders spoke by phone last week. But Trump conceded they made no progress toward a peace deal or even a ceasefire, which Trump has been demanding in vain for months.

Trump has threatened, but held off on, imposing new sanctions against Russia to prod Putin into peace talks. Meanwhile, Trump has sounded more satisfied with his interactions with Zelenskyy, who was in his dog house after a stormy White House meeting last winter.

The White House has said Trump still has confidence in Hegseth. The defense chief survived a March scandal over his disclosure of sensitive military operational details of a strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen on an unsecure chat group on the Signal messaging app that included a reporter.

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