Pentagon Surprised Trump With Pause    07/09 06:18

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump's decision to send more defensive 
weapons to Ukraine came after he privately expressed frustration with Pentagon 
officials for announcing a pause in some deliveries last week -- a move that he 
felt wasn't properly coordinated with the White House, according to three 
people familiar with the matter.

   The Pentagon, which announced last week that it would hold back some air 
defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons pledged to 
Ukraine because of what U.S. officials said were concerns that American 
stockpiles were in short supply. Trump said Monday that the U.S. will have to 
send more weapons to Ukraine, effectively reversing the move.

   Two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the 
sensitive internal discussions, said there was some internal opposition among 
Pentagon brass to the pause -- coordinated by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge 
Colby -- before it was announced.

   One of the people described Trump as being caught "flat footed" by the 
announcement. The White House did not respond to queries about whether Trump 
was surprised by the Pentagon pause.

   Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson denied that Defense Secretary Pete 
Hegseth had acted without consulting the president.

   "It is the job of the Secretary of Defense to make military recommendations 
to the commander-in-chief. Secretary Hegseth provided a framework for the 
President to evaluate military aid shipments and assess existing stockpiles. 
This effort was coordinated across government. The Department will continue to 
give the President robust options regarding military aid to Ukraine, consistent 
with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end and putting America first," 
Wilson said in a statement to The Associated Press.

   The pause in critical weapons deliveries had come at a difficult moment for 
Ukraine, which has faced increasing -- and more complex -- air barrages from 
Russia during the more than three-year-old war. Trump acknowledged that in 
announcing the reversal on Monday night, saying, "They have to be able to 
defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now."

   Asked by a reporter Tuesday who approved the pause, Trump bristled at the 
question while he was gathered with his Cabinet. "I don't know. Why don't you 
tell me?"

   Trump's change in tone on Putin

   The president also laid into Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggesting he 
was unnecessarily prolonging the war that Trump has said he's determined to 
quickly conclude. Trump has struggled to find a resolution, with talks between 
the sides stalled.

   The Republican leader has sounded increasingly exasperated with Putin in 
recent days. The two spoke by phone last week.

   "We get a lot of bull---- thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the 
truth," Trump said during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting. "He's very nice all the 
time, but it turns out to be meaningless."

   He has threatened, but held off on, imposing new sanctions against Russia's 
oil industry to try to prod Putin into peace talks.

   Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said last week that Trump has given him the 
go-ahead to push forward with a bill he's co-sponsoring that calls, in part, 
for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian 
oil. The move would have huge ramifications for China and India, two economic 
behemoths that buy Russian oil.

   Trump said Tuesday that he's "looking at it very strongly."

   Pentagon says it's going to resume shipments to Ukraine

   The weapons pause announced last week impacted shipments of Patriot 
missiles, precision-guided GMLRS, Hellfire missiles and Howitzer rounds and 
more, taking not only Ukrainian officials and other allies by surprise but also 
U.S. lawmakers and other parts of the Trump administration, including the State 
Department.

   The Pentagon said late Monday that at Trump's direction, it would resume 
weapons shipments to Ukraine "to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves 
while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops." Still, 
spokesman Sean Parnell added that its review for Trump to evaluate military 
shipments worldwide continues as part of "America First" defense priorities.

   It's also unclear which weaponry would now be sent, though Trump said that 
the U.S. will primarily be assisting Ukraine with defensive weapons.

   Counting the weapons

   On Tuesday, each of the services and the combatant commands -- the 
multiservice organizations that spearhead U.S. military operations around the 
world -- were still sending up information on their stockpiles of specific 
munitions to Pentagon leadership, a U.S. official said.

   "They are literally still doing the math," the official said.

   The information was being presented on a stoplight chart -- where munitions 
were either in a red, yellow or green status, similar to slides that had been 
created the week before, the official said. That earlier study had concluded 
that some munitions were OK to keep sending to Ukraine -- but others were 
reaching concerning levels.

   Getting a full visibility on the numbers of actual munitions on hand takes 
time, the official said, because while Patriot missiles, for example, initially 
belong to the Army, once they are requested and sent to a combatant command, 
such as U.S. Central Command, the service loses visibility on those numbers in 
inventory.

   The vast majority of the munitions and weapons the U.S. has shipped to 
Ukraine have been pulled from the Army, which has monitored levels closely in 
recent years, particularly for high-demand items like 155mm artillery shells 
and Patriot missiles for air defenses.

   It's been harder for the Army to ramp up production on those items than had 
been planned: It was trying to hit a goal of producing 100,000 155mm shells a 
month by the end of 2025 but won't meet that goal now until 2026, Army 
spokesman Steve Warren said.

   Ramping up Patriot missile production also has been challenging, Warren said.

   Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement Tuesday that he was glad 
Trump was resuming deliveries to Ukraine.

   "This time, the President will need to reject calls from the isolationists 
and restrainers within his Administration to limit these deliveries to 
defensive weapons," McConnell said. "And he should disregard those at DoD who 
invoke munitions shortages to block aid while refusing to invest seriously in 
expanding munitions production."