Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump decide Send more defensive weapons in Ukraine After expressed his frustration in private to Pentagon officials for announcing a break in certain deliveries last week – a decision which, according to him, was not properly coordinated with the White House, according to three people familiar with the problem.
The Pentagon, which announced last week that it Remember a few air defense missilesGuided precision artillery and other promised weapons in Ukraine due to what US officials said they were concerns that American stocks were rare. Trump said on Monday that the United States is expected to send more weapons to Ukraine, actually reversing this decision.
Two of the people, who spoke subject to anonymity of sensitive internal discussions, said that there was an internal opposition among the Pentagon brass brands at the break – coordinated by the Pentagon Elbridge Colby Pentagon Policy – before his announcement.
One of the people described Trump as being captured “flat feet” by the announcement. The White House did not answer questions to find out if Trump was surprised by the Pentagon break.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson denied that the defense secretary Pete Hegseth had acted without consulting the president.
“It is the work of the Secretary of Defense to make military recommendations to the Commander -in -Chief. Secretary Hegseth provided a manager to the president to assess military aid expeditions and assess existing stocks. This effort was coordinated through the government. The ministry will continue to give the president implementation of military aid to Ukraine, in accordance with its objective of proposing this tragic press to an end and to end America.
THE Break in deliveries of critical weapons had come to a Difficult moment for Ukrainewho faced increasing – and more complex – russia air dams during the war of more than three years. Trump admitted that announcing the overthrow on Monday evening, saying: “They must be able to defend themselves. They are very hard now.”
AP Audio: Trump caught by the brutal move of the Pentagon at the break of the deliveries of Ukrainian weapons, say the sources after
The AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani reports on President Trump’s frustration towards Pentagon’s armaments deliveries to Ukraine last week.
Questioned Tuesday by a journalist who approved the break, Trump bristled the question when he was gathered with his office. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me? “
Trump’s change of tone on Putin
The president was also put to the Russian president Vladimir Putinsuggesting that he unnecessarily prolonged the war that Trump said he was determined to conclude quickly. Trump had trouble finding a resolution, with The discussions between the sides have stalled.
The republican leader has seemed more and more exasperated with Putin in recent days. The two spoke by phone last week.
“We get a lot of bulls —- We launched by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” said Trump at the meeting of Tuesday’s cabinet. “It is very nice all the time, but it turns out that it is meaningless.”
He threatened, but was maintained, imposing new sanctions against the oil industry in Russia to try to provoke Putin in peace talks.
Senator Lindsey GrahamRS.C., said last week that Trump had given him the green light to move forward with a bill that he coparraine who calls, in part, for 500% price On goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil. This decision would have enormous ramifications for China and India, two economic giants that buy Russian oil.
Trump said on Tuesday that he “looked at him very strongly”.
The Pentagon says it will resume expeditions in Ukraine
The break of arms announced last week the expeditions of patriotic missiles, GMLR guided by precision, Hellfire missiles and howl and more, taking not only Ukrainian and other officials Allies by surprise But also American legislators and other parts of the Trump administration, including the State Department.
The Pentagon said late Monday that in Trump on Monday, he would take up arms expeditions to Ukraine “to ensure that Ukrainians could defend themselves while we are working to ensure lasting peace and ensure murder stops.” However, the spokesman Sean Parnell added that his examination for Trump to assess military expeditions around the world is continuing in the defense priorities “America First”.
It is also not known which weapons would now be sent, although Trump said that the United States will mainly help Ukraine in defensive weapons.
Count weapons
On Tuesday, each of the combatant services and orders – multi -service organizations that direct American military operations in the world – still sent information on their stocks of specific ammunition to the Pentagon management, said an American official.
“They literally do the calculation,” said the manager.
The information was presented on a Stop Fire Chart – where the ammunition was either in a red, yellow or green status, similar to the slides that had been created the previous week, said the official. This previous study had concluded that certain ammunition was correct to continue sending to Ukraine – but others reached the levels.
Obtaining complete visibility on the number of actual ammunition at hand takes time, said the manager, because if the Patriot missiles, for example, initially belong to the army, once they are requested and sent to a combat command, such as the American central command, the service loses visibility on these figures in inventory.
The vast majority of the ammunition and weapons that the United States has sent to Ukraine have been withdrawn from the army, which has monitored levels in recent years, in particular for high-demand items such as 155 mm artillery shells and patriotic missiles for air defenses.
It was more difficult for the army to strengthen production on these articles than expected: he was trying to reach the objective of producing 100,000 155 mm shells per month by the end of 2025, but will not reach this objective now in 2026, said army spokesperson Steve Warren.
The acceleration of the production of Patriot missiles was also difficult, said Warren.
Senator Mitch McConnellR-ky., Said in a statement on Tuesday that he was happy that Trump resumed deliveries to Ukraine.
“This time, the president will have to reject the calls of isolationists and restrictions on his administration to limit these deliveries to defensive weapons,” said McConnell. “And he should ignore those of the DOD which invoke the ammunition shortages to block aid while refusing to seriously invest in the production of expanding ammunition.”
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The writers of the associated press Lisa Mascaro and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
