The Pentagon has halted shipments of some air defense missiles and other munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles have gotten too low, POLITICO reported on Tuesday.
The report said the decision was driven by Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of defense for policy, a China hawk who wants the US to focus on building up its forces in the Asia Pacific to prepare for a conflict over Taiwan.
The halt of the shipments was ordered after a review of Pentagon munition stockpiles, which found that the number of artillery shells, air defense missiles, and precision munitions was dwindling. The US has sent Ukraine an enormous number of such weapons, and it has also been depleting air defenses supporting Israel’s wars in the Middle East.
The shipments that have been paused were previously pledged to Ukraine under the Biden administration using two types of aid mechanisms: the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the US to ship weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles, and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which authorizes the US to purchase arms for Ukraine.
During his final months in office, President Biden approved billions of dollars worth of weapons shipments under the two mechanisms, which will take years to deliver. The Trump administration briefly paused the shipments following the Oval Office blow-up between President Trump and Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, but the assistance was quickly resumed after US and Ukrainian officials held another meeting.
