{"id":31421,"date":"2025-07-02T02:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T02:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/31421\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T02:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T02:22:10","slug":"us-wont-send-some-weapons-pledged-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/31421\/","title":{"rendered":"US won’t send some weapons pledged to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own stockpiles have declined too much, officials said Tuesday, a setback for the country as it tries to fend off escalating attacks from Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Certain munitions were previously promised to Ukraine under the Biden administration to aid its defenses during the more than three-year-old war<\/a>. The pause reflects a new set of priorities under President Donald Trump<\/a> and came after Defense Department officials scrutinized current U.S. stockpiles and raised concerns. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision was made to put America\u2019s interests first following a review of our nation\u2019s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,\u201d White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. \u201cThe strength of the United States Armed Forces remains unquestioned \u2014 just ask Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was a reference to Trump recently ordering U.S. missile strikes against nuclear sites in Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pentagon stocks of some weapons found to be low, official says<\/p>\n

The Pentagon review determined that stocks were too low on some weapons previously pledged, so pending shipments of some items won\u2019t be sent, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide information that has not yet been made public.<\/p>\n

The Defense Department did not provide details on what specific weapons were being held back. <\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s military has never been more ready and more capable,\u201d spokesman Sean Parnell said, adding that the major tax cut and spending package<\/a> moving through Congress \u201censures that our weapons and defense systems are modernized to protect against 21st century threats for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The halt of some weapons from the U.S. is a blow to Ukraine as Russia has recently launched some of its biggest aerial attacks<\/a> of the war, in an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in peace efforts championed by Trump. Talks between the sides have ground to a halt.<\/p>\n

The U.S. stoppage was first reported by Politico.<\/p>\n

To date, the U.S. has provided Ukraine more than $66 billion worth of weapons and military assistance since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the war, the U.S. has routinely pressed for allies to provide air defense systems to Ukraine. But many are reluctant to give up the high-tech systems, particularly countries in Eastern Europe that also feel threatened by Russia.<\/p>\n

Elbridge Colby, the Defense Department undersecretary for policy<\/a>, said officials continue \u201cto provide the president with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, the department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving U.S. forces\u2019 readiness for Administration defense priorities,\u201d Colby said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Trump met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> on the sidelines of the NATO summit last week and had left open the possibility of sending Kyiv more U.S.-made Patriot air defense missile systems<\/a>, acknowledging they would help the Ukrainian cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do want to have the antimissile missiles, OK, as they call them, the Patriots,\u201d Trump said then. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to see if we can make some available. We need them, too. We\u2019re supplying them to Israel, and they\u2019re very effective, 100% effective. Hard to believe how effective. They do want that more than any other thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump administration shifts outlook on Ukraine military aid<\/p>\n

Those comments hinted at thinking about providing weapons to Ukraine that\u2019s begun to change across the administration in recent months. <\/p>\n

In testimony before lawmakers in June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> said he has moved quickly to quash wasteful programs and redirect funding to Trump\u2019s top objectives.<\/p>\n

Hegseth said a negotiated peace between Russia and Ukraine, which has been promoted for months by Trump, makes America look strong, even though Moscow is the aggressor in the conflict. He also said the defense budget includes hard choices and \u201creflects the reality that Europe needs to step up more for the defense of its own continent. And President Trump deserves the credit for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defense secretary told lawmakers last month that some U.S. security spending for Ukraine was still in the pipeline, without providing details. But he said such assistance \u2014 which has been robust for the past two years \u2014 would be reduced. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration takes a very different view of that conflict,\u201d Hegseth said. \u201cWe believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation\u2019s interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The change comes after Hegseth skipped a meeting last month<\/a> of an international group to coordinate military aid to Ukraine that the U.S. created three years ago. Hegseth\u2019s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, formed the group after Russia attacked Ukraine, and Hegseth\u2019s absence was the first time the U.S. defense secretary wasn\u2019t in attendance.<\/p>\n

Under Austin\u2019s leadership, the U.S. served as chair of the group, and he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff attended monthly meetings, which were both in person and by video. <\/p>\n

Hegseth had previously stepped away from a leadership role of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group \u2014 turning that over to Germany and the United Kingdom \u2014 before abandoning the gathering altogether<\/a>.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer David Klepper contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The U.S. is halting some shipments of weapons to Ukraine amid concerns that its own…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":31422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[26563,69,4528,57,2055,26561,8132,50,6986,80,3657,26562,25731,273,67,370,132,68,3656,96,93,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-31421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-anna-kelly","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-foreign-aid","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-government-and-politics","14":"tag-lloyd-austin","15":"tag-military-and-defense","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-pete-hegseth","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","20":"tag-sean-parnell","21":"tag-u-s-department-of-defense","22":"tag-ukraine","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-united-states-government","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-volodymyr-zelenskyy","28":"tag-war-and-unrest","29":"tag-washington-news","30":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114781261934170309","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}