Contents1. U.S. suspends aid to Ukraine. For the third time…2. Phone conversations on U.S. Independence Day: Trump is finally "not happy" with Putin3. Green light for arms supplies to UkraineEspreso explains what happened around the third halt to U.S. aid to Ukraine and what preceded Trump's decision to resume it.U.S. suspends aid to Ukraine. For the third time…On July 2, the White House announced for the third time the suspension of arms supplies to Ukraine. This halt affected shipments of Patriot air defense system charges, Hellfire anti-tank missiles, Stinger portable launchers, GMLRS precision ammunition, and 155mm artillery shells. Notably, some of these supplies were already in Poland, awaiting orders for delivery.Looking back, as with the previous suspensions in February and May, the pause lasted no more than a week. However, each announcement caused significant concern within Ukrainian society and reportedly took the U.S. State Department and members of Congress by surprise, according to NBC.What’s behind this? According to NBC, citing three congressional aides and a former official, the third suspension was initiated by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. His decision was backed by his deputy and national defense expert Elbridge Colby, a long-time advocate for shifting military resources, especially to the Pacific region to counter China.The official explanation pointed to concerns about low weapons stockpiles, which government officials reportedly attributed to previous mismanagement. However, these same sources revealed that senior military officers conducted an analysis showing that the aid package would not jeopardize the U.S. armed forces’ own ammunition reserves.The decision to stop has drawn criticism from both democratic and republican forces. In particular, the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives, Adam Smith, said that the Pentagon is manipulating, using the state of affairs in U.S. military readiness to justify the suspension of assistance. The real reason, in his opinion, is that the Ministry of Defense simply wants to stop providing American assistance to Ukraine.“We are not at any lower point, stockpile-wise, than we’ve been in the 3½ years of the Ukraine conflict,” said Adam Smith, the top member of the House Armed Services Committee, in an interview with NBC News.He also indicated that his staff had “seen the numbers” and, without going into detail, said that there was no sign of a shortage that would justify suspending aid to Ukraine.The Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, tasked with auditing after Hegseth’s memo, reached the same conclusions. While their review noted a decline in some precision-guided munitions stocks, levels had not yet fallen below critical thresholds. Consequently, the Chiefs determined that continuing aid to Ukraine would not deplete U.S. reserves to the point of undermining military readiness.As The Wall Street Journal aptly observed, although the 47th U.S. president has repeatedly expressed a desire to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, his administration’s refusal to supply weapons to Kyiv risks prolonging the conflict and increasing casualties.Phone conversations on U.S. Independence Day: Trump is finally "not happy" with PutinThe day after the announcement of the suspension of arms supplies to Ukraine, on July 3, another monthly conversation took place between the U.S. and Russian leaders.The Kremlin was the first to report on the call. Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov told the Russian outlet RBK that Putin congratulated Trump on the upcoming U.S. Independence Day. However, the main focus of the conversation was the prospect of ending Russia’s war in Ukraine.“Of course, the Ukrainian issue was discussed. Trump once again raised the topic of an early cessation of hostilities. Putin noted that Russia continues to seek a political, negotiated solution to the conflict,” Ushakov said.It comes as no surprise that the Russian side reiterated its refusal to abandon what it calls the “root causes” of the conflict.Later, at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, Trump spoke to reporters about the same conversation. His comments were somewhat more categorical and, it seems, marked the first time he admitted to making no progress.“We had a phone conversation. It was quite a long one. We talked about many things, including Iran and, as you know, the (Russian – ed.) war with Ukraine. And I’m not satisfied with it,” Trump said.Interestingly, during the same conversation, the 47th U.S. president emphasized that the United States continues to supply weapons to Ukraine, but for now, they need to ensure sufficient stockpiles for themselves.Following the call with Putin, Trump held a similar conversation with President Zelenskyy on July 4 — a significant date in the United States. The first to report on the call’s outcome was Ravid Barak, an international columnist for the American publication Axios, who noted that the conversation lasted about 40 minutes."President Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Zelensky this morning. A source familiar said it was a 'good conversation'," the journalist said on X.Later, Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself commented on the telephone rendezvous. Despite the fact that arms supplies had not yet been resumed, the president indicated that they had talked about increasing Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities."We discussed possibilities for air defense and agreed that we would work to increase the protection of the sky. We agreed on a corresponding meeting of our teams," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.In addition, the leaders discussed the possibilities of the defense industry and joint weapons production, as well as economic cooperation, mutual purchases and investments, and the diplomatic situation.It is also significant that the White House, in particular the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, spoke favorably about the telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy on X, in contrast to the talks with Putin."Both Presidents recognize the pain of the loss of the young in peace and war. Compassion is a key part of leadership," Kellogg emphasized.Green light for arms supplies to UkraineA positive conversation with Zelenskyy, a negative one with Putin, and pressure from congressmen as well as leaders of Europe and NATO — all of these factors appear to have contributed to the reversal of the decision to suspend arms supplies.It is also worth highlighting a statement from one of the largest conservative U.S. publications, the New York Post, with the striking headline: “Vlad gave his answer to peace, Mr. President: We must re-arm Ukraine.” Notably, this is one of the outlets Donald Trump is said to favor and reads every morning.The article drew attention to the fact that on U.S. Independence Day, Kyiv endured a powerful and devastating Russian attack —  while two days earlier, the United States had suspended aid to Ukraine."He (Vladimir Putin, – ed.) followed your call with the largest drone and missile strike of the war (the strike on U.S. Independence Day, which as of July 4 was the largest, – ed.), killing at least one. So why, Mr. President, is your administration punishing Ukraine?", the statement says.They emphasized that the fall of Ukraine threatens not only Ukraine itself. This tragedy will "destabilize the world, weaken America and reflect negatively on your presidency."The NYP also emphasized that Putin understands only force, and therefore will continue to plunder the United States if it continues to retreat from supporting Ukraine.And so, on the morning of July 7, Kyiv time, Donald Trump declared that the United States should restore support for Ukraine. Speaking at a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of their staff, the American president was asked whether he planned to send more weapons for use by Kyiv. To this he answered reporters in the affirmative: "We will send more weapons."After that, the first information appeared from the Axios publication, which, citing U.S. officials, reported that Trump had ordered the sending of 10 Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine and was also pressuring Germany to sell one of its Patriot batteries to Ukraine.Currently, statements are pouring in from the media and the White House about supporting Ukraine with weapons for defense. And if everything is relatively resolved with this issue for now, it remains unclear who is to blame for such several-day stops and delays, which critically affect the situation on the front and allow Russia to carelessly strike at the civilian population of Ukraine. When asked by reporters who initiated the arms halt, Trump replied: "I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Given the political pressure he has been under over the past week and the media reports that the Pentagon chief has been involved, this statement seems rather strange. And here we can conclude that either President Trump is trying to shield Hegseth from the scandal and hide the chaos in his administration, or the chaos in the White House has reached a level where critical decisions for the country are being made without the knowledge of its president.