Exclusive-Order by Hegseth to cancel Ukraine weapons caught White House off guard

By Erin Banco, Phil Stewart, Gram Slattery and Mike Stone

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roughly a week aft Donald Trump started his 2nd word arsenic president, the U.S. subject issued an bid to 3 freight airlines operating retired of Dover Air Force Base successful Delaware and a U.S. basal successful Qatar: Stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and different weaponry and bound for Ukraine.

In a substance of hours, frantic questions reached Washington from Ukrainians successful Kyiv and from officials successful Poland, wherever the shipments were coordinated. Who had ordered the U.S. Transportation Command, known arsenic TRANSCOM, to halt the flights? Was it a imperishable intermission connected each aid? Or conscionable some?

Top nationalist information officials — successful the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department — couldn’t supply answers. Within 1 week, flights were backmost successful the air.

The verbal bid originated from the bureau of Pete Hegseth, the caput of defense, according to TRANSCOM records reviewed by Reuters. A TRANSCOM spokesperson said the bid received the bid via the Pentagon's Joint Staff.

The cancelations came aft Trump wrapped up a January 30 Oval Office gathering astir Ukraine that included Hegseth and different apical nationalist information officials, according to 3 sources acquainted with the situation. During the meeting, the thought of stopping Ukraine assistance came up, said 2 radical with cognition of the meeting, but the president issued nary acquisition to halt assistance to Ukraine.

The president was unaware of Hegseth’s order, arsenic were different apical nationalist information officials successful the meeting, according to 2 sources briefed connected the backstage White House discussions and different with nonstop cognition of the matter.

Asked to remark connected this report, the White House told Reuters that Hegseth had followed a directive from Trump to intermission assistance to Ukraine, which it said was the administration's presumption astatine the time. It did not explicate why, according to those who spoke to Reuters, apical nationalist information officials successful the mean determination making process didn’t cognize astir the bid oregon wherefore it was truthful swiftly reversed.

“Negotiating an extremity to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a analyzable and fluid situation. We are not going to item each speech among apical medication officials passim the process,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman. “The bottommost enactment is the warfare is overmuch person to an extremity contiguous than it was erstwhile President Trump took office.”

The cancelations outgo TRANSCOM $2.2 million, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. In effect to a petition for comment, TRANSCOM said that the full outgo was $1.6 cardinal – 11 flights were canceled but 1 incurred nary charge.

An bid halting subject assistance authorized nether the Biden medication went into effect officially a period later, connected March 4, with a White House announcement.

The communicative of however flights were canceled, elaborate by Reuters for the archetypal time, points to an at-times haphazard policy-making process wrong the Trump medication and a bid operation that is unclear adjacent to its ain ranking members.

The multiday intermission of the flights, confirmed by 5 radical with cognition of it, besides shows disorder successful however the medication has created and implemented nationalist information policy. At the Pentagon, the disarray is an unfastened secret, with galore existent and erstwhile officials saying the section is plagued by interior disagreements connected overseas policy, deep-seated grudges, and inexperienced staff.

Reuters couldn’t found precisely erstwhile Hegseth’s bureau ordered the freight flights canceled. Two sources said Ukrainian and European officials began asking astir the intermission connected February 2. The TRANSCOM records bespeak that determination was a verbal bid from “SECDEF” – the caput of defence – that stopped the flights and that they had resumed by February 5.

“This is accordant with the administration's argumentation to determination fast, interruption things and benignant it retired later. That is their managing philosophy,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine serviceman and defence adept with the Center for Strategic and International Studies deliberation tank. “That is large for Silicon Valley. But erstwhile you’re talking astir institutions that person been astir for hundreds of years, you are going to tally into problems.”

The halt successful shipments caused consternation successful Kyiv.

The Ukrainians rapidly asked the medication done aggregate channels but had trouble obtaining immoderate utile information, according to a Ukrainian authoritative with nonstop cognition of the situation. In aboriginal conversations with the Ukrainians, the medication wrote disconnected the intermission arsenic “internal politics,” said the source. Ukrainian officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The shipping of American weapons to Ukraine requires sign-off from aggregate agencies and tin instrumentality weeks oregon adjacent months to complete, depending connected the size of the cargo. The bulk of U.S. subject assistance goes done a logistics hub successful Poland earlier being picked up by Ukrainian representatives and transported into the country.

That hub tin clasp shipments for extended periods of time. It’s not wide if the 11 canceled flights were the lone ones scheduled that week successful February, however overmuch assistance was already stockpiled successful Poland and if it continued to travel into Ukraine contempt the U.S. military's orders.

The revelations travel astatine a clip of upheaval successful the department. Several of Hegseth’s apical advisers were escorted from the gathering April 15 aft being accused of unauthorized disclosure of classified information. The caput continues to look scrutiny, including from Congress, astir his ain communications. Previously he’s attributed allegations of upheaval to disgruntled employees.

The canceled flights contained weapons that had agelong been approved by the Biden administration, authorized by lawmakers connected Capitol Hill.

Reuters couldn’t find if Hegseth oregon his squad knew however the bid to TRANSCOM would play retired oregon that the bid would beryllium a important alteration successful U.S. argumentation connected Ukraine. Three sources acquainted with the concern said Hegseth misinterpreted discussions with the president astir Ukraine argumentation and assistance shipments without elaborating further.

Four different radical briefed connected the concern said a tiny cadre of staffers wrong the Pentagon, galore of whom person ne'er held a authorities occupation and who person for years spoken retired against U.S. assistance to Ukraine, advised Hegseth to see pausing assistance to the country.

Two radical acquainted with the substance denied determination was a existent cutoff successful aid. One of them described it arsenic a logistical pause.

“(They) conscionable wanted to get a grip connected what was going connected and people, arsenic a result, misinterpreted that as: ‘You request to halt everything,’” said one.

FLIGHTS CANCELED

According to 2 sources with cognition of the meeting, Hegseth arrived astatine the January 30 Oval Office gathering with Trump with a memo drafted by immoderate of his apical argumentation advisers, advocating that their brag propulsion the White House to see pausing weapons deliveries to Ukraine to summation leverage successful bid negotiations with Russia.

The sources said the caput attended the gathering with different apical officials progressive successful Ukraine policy, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg. The radical broadly discussed U.S. argumentation connected Ukraine and Russia, including perchance tightening sanctions connected Moscow.

It’s not wide the grade to which Hegseth projected stopping assistance during the meeting, but the thought came up successful discussions, said 1 of the sources and different idiosyncratic acquainted with the meeting.

Since the opening of Russia’s full-scale penetration successful February 2022, the U.S. had approved billions of dollars worthy of subject assistance to Ukraine. Most was delivered nether the Biden administration. But a fewer shipments remained successful the pipeline, scheduled into this summer.

Trump had threatened to frost assistance repeatedly connected the run trail, but had yet to bash so. And during the meeting, helium again declined to halt assistance to Ukraine oregon bid Hegseth to instrumentality immoderate argumentation changes erstwhile it came to sending instrumentality to Kyiv, the sources said.

An bid efficaciously freezing immoderate subject enactment for an state would usually beryllium discussed intensively among apical nationalist information officials and approved by the president. It requires the coordination of aggregate agencies and often aggregate freight companies.

None of that treatment oregon coordination happened erstwhile Hegseth’s bureau canceled the scheduled flights carrying American artillery shells and ammunition to Poland from Al Udeid subject basal successful Qatar and the Dover U.S. subject basal successful Delaware, 3 of the sources said.

The intermission came arsenic Ukraine’s subject was struggling to fend disconnected Russian forces successful eastbound Ukraine and successful the consequential conflict for the Kursk portion of Russia, wherever Ukrainian forces were losing crushed and person since each but been expelled.

Close Trump advisers got tipped disconnected to the intermission by Pentagon staffers and discussed with the president whether to reconstruct the assistance shipments, according to 2 sources. By then, TRANSCOM had canceled 11 flights, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. Some media outlets, including Reuters, wrote astir the intermission but Hegseth’s relation was antecedently unknown.

It’s unclear if Trump subsequently questioned oregon reprimanded Hegseth. One root with nonstop cognition of the substance said National Security Adviser Waltz yet intervened to reverse the cancelations. Waltz was forced retired connected Thursday and is expected to beryllium nominated arsenic U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

GROWING INFIGHTING

When Trump entered office, assistance to Ukraine continued flowing and helium pledged to enactment with Ukraine and Russia to extremity the warfare – oregon astatine the precise slightest broker a ceasefire.

Two of his astir salient envoys, Kellogg, a protagonist of Kyiv who worked with Trump successful his archetypal administration, and Steve Witkoff, a real-estate magnate and adjacent person of the president, acceptable retired to negociate with some parties.

Separately, astatine the Pentagon, immoderate of Hegseth’s argumentation advisers privately started drafting proposals to propulsion backmost American enactment for Ukraine, according to 2 sources briefed connected the matter.

That radical of staffers align themselves intimately with the anti-interventionist philosophy.

Some person antecedently advised Republican lawmakers advocating for an America-first attack to overseas argumentation and person called publicly, successful writings and talks, for the U.S. to propulsion backmost from subject commitments successful the Mideast and Europe – a presumption likewise held by Vice President JD Vance. Several person advocated that the U.S. alternatively absorption connected China.

Supporters of the staffers person slammed those pushing backmost connected the anti-interventionist question successful the administration, claiming Vance and others are simply trying to prevention the lives of radical surviving successful warzones similar Ukraine and forestall aboriginal American subject deaths.

The infighting has analyzable the policy-making process, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance and 4 different sources. At a clip erstwhile Kellogg and Witkoff are trying to broker a bid woody with Russia and Ukraine, the staffers person advocated down the scenes for the U.S. to gully backmost its enactment for Kyiv – a argumentation that has angered Ukrainian officials and pressured European allies to capable the gap, 5 radical with cognition of the concern said.

Washington has signed a woody with Kyiv for rights to its uncommon world minerals – an statement U.S. officials accidental is an effort to recoup wealth America has spent to prop up Ukraine’s warfare effort.

At slightest 1 of the staffers who had antecedently pushed for the medication to propulsion backmost its enactment for Kyiv, Dan Caldwell, was escorted retired of the Pentagon for a leak helium claims ne'er happened. Caldwell, a veteran, served arsenic 1 of Hegseth’s main advisers, including connected Ukraine.

Despite the little intermission successful February and the longer 1 that began successful aboriginal March, the Trump medication has resumed sending the past of the assistance approved nether U.S. President Joe Biden. No caller argumentation has been announced.

(This communicative has been corrected to accidental that the U.S. basal is successful Qatar, not United Arab Emirates, successful paragraph 31)

(Reporting by Erin Banco, Phil Stewart, Gram Slattery and Mike Stone. Editing by Don Durfee and Lori Hinnant.)