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\n A memo written by the Pentagon\u2019s policy chief last month gives the Defense Department the option to divert certain weapons and equipment intended for Ukraine back into US stockpiles, according to four people who have read it \u2014 a dramatic shift that could see billions of dollars previously earmarked for the war-torn country go toward replenishing dwindling American supplies.\n <\/p>\n
\n The memo adds even more uncertainty to an already murky picture of the status of US arms shipments to Ukraine ahead of President Donald Trump\u2019s potential meeting<\/a> with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.\n <\/p>\n \n Even as Trump has greenlit a plan<\/a> to sell US weapons to Ukraine through NATO, there remain deep concerns inside the Pentagon over arming Kyiv in its war with Russia at the expense of US stockpiles. That is particularly true of highly sought-after items that remain in short supply, such as interceptor missiles, air defense systems and artillery ammunition.\n <\/p>\n \n Last month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paused<\/a> a large package of weapons shipments to Ukraine. At the time, Hegseth was acting in accordance with the Pentagon memo, written by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, a noted skeptic of arming Ukraine.\n <\/p>\n \n Shortly after the pause became public, Trump reversed Hegseth\u2019s pause and vowed to continue providing defensive weapons to Ukraine in the face of near daily attacks from Russia. Trump also announced a deal with NATO to provide potentially billions of dollars in more weapons to Ukraine, made by the US but paid for by European allies.\n <\/p>\n \n The Colby memo, however, remains in effect and contains a previously unreported provision that allows the Pentagon to divert weapons back into US stockpiles that were built explicitly for Ukraine under a congressionally funded program known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.\n <\/p>\n \n While sources said weapons don\u2019t appear to have been diverted yet, the provision could rob Ukraine of billions of dollars worth of US-made materiel expected to be delivered over the coming months and years.\n <\/p>\n \n It also undermines the intent of the USAI, a near decade-old program established by Congress for the explicit purpose of allocating money for the Pentagon to buy weapons for Ukraine directly from US defense manufactures.\n <\/p>\n \n The USAI program was set up in 2016 and had traditionally provided Ukraine with a stable supply of weapons. The Senate just allocated another $800 million to USAI as part of the Pentagon\u2019s annual budget legislation known as the National Defense Authorization Act.\n <\/p>\n \n But it\u2019s unclear whether the weapons produced with that money will ultimately go to Ukraine under the new Pentagon policy, sources told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n The Pentagon declined to comment for this story.\n <\/p>\n \n Under previous administrations, top Pentagon officials believed that diverting weapons produced through USAI back into US stockpiles would violate the Impoundment Control Act, according to one of the sources familiar with the matter. That law reinforces Congress\u2019s power of the purse and requires the president to notify lawmakers of any delay or withholding of congressionally authorized funds.\n <\/p>\n \n Indeed, the new Pentagon policy already appears to be receiving some pushback from the Senate. In the proposed NDAA for 2026, lawmakers included a provision in recent weeks that would only allow for weapons to be reabsorbed by the Pentagon if they haven\u2019t already been transferred to Ukraine and are no longer needed to support USAI training, equipping, and advisory activities.\n <\/p>\n \n Hegseth also has to notify Congress prior to reabsorbing those stocks, the bill says.\n <\/p>\n \n The new policy comes as the Trump administration has broadly been looking for ways to shift the burden of arming, equipping, and training Ukraine onto Europe and NATO. At the Pentagon, Colby has also previously pushed to preserve more of the US stockpiles for a potential future war with China.\n <\/p>\n \n Separately from the USAI, the Pentagon still has nearly $4 billion left of funding authority, which Congress authorized last year, to send weapons to Ukraine taken directly from US stockpiles. Some NATO allies, including the UK, have been urging the US to use that authority to put more pressure on Putin, the sources said, and have proposed reimbursing the US for the cost of doing so.\n <\/p>\n \n To that end, the chairmen of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Sens. Roger Wicker and Jim Risch, last week introduced a bill<\/a> that would create a US Treasury fund that allies could deposit money into to backfill US military equipment donated to Ukraine.\n <\/p>\n \n But another source familiar with the matter said the Pentagon is more likely to let that $4 billion in funding authority expire.\n <\/p>\n \n The Colby memo, which Hegseth approved, remains the department\u2019s policy, the sources said. It categorizes US stockpiles into \u201cred,\u201d \u201cyellow\u201d and \u201cgreen\u201d categories, the sources added. The red and yellow categories include weapons the Pentagon assesses to be in short supply, and now require explicit signoff by Hegseth before they are sent anywhere else.\n <\/p>\n![\"Defense](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/gettyimages-2228234410.jpg\")
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