WASHINGTON, May 6. /TASS/. The Pentagon suspended weapons supplies to Ukraine in February on a verbal order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Reuters reported.
According to the agency, Hegseth’s verbal order was to "stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry and bound for Ukraine" from a US airbase in Delaware.
The order followed Hegseth’s meeting with US President Donald Trump and other senior officials on national security matters on January 30. According to the agency’s sources, the potential suspension of weapons deliveries to Ukraine was among the topics discussed at the meeting but there was no direct instruction from the president to stop aid to Ukraine.
The cancelation of those flights cost the US up to $2.2 million, Reuters noted, adding that the pause caused serious concerns in Kiev. The Ukrainian side tried to get explanations through various channels and later the US administration wrote off the pause as "internal politics," the agency cited sources. Neither the Pentagon nor the Department of State could explain the pause.
Deliveries were resumed by February 5.