Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefly — and mistakenly — halted a military aid shipment to Ukraine during President Trump’s first weeks in office without getting a final go-ahead, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.
Hegseth’s verbal order, first reported Tuesday by Reuters, stopped 11 US military cargo planes from shipping artillery shells and munitions to the war-torn eastern European country and followed a Jan. 30 Oval Office meeting involving top national security officials — including Hegseth — and the president.
Holding up the assistance for Kyiv had been discussed at that meeting, but Trump did not give any instruction to that effect.
The source familiar with the incident described it as a “misunderstanding of the president’s orders” by Hegseth, forcing other administration officials to “cover” for the Pentagon chief and hastily renew the $2.2 million in aid shipments.
The flights to Qatar from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, with Ukraine as their final destination, were back in the air by Feb. 5.
A Pentagon spokesperson directed The Post to the White House for comment.
“Negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a complex and fluid situation. We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Reuters in a statement. “The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office.”
This is a developing story. Check back for more information.
