Republican senators say reports that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unilaterally froze arms deliveries to Ukraine without authorisation from President Donald Trump raise serious concerns about the level of coordination between the White House and the Pentagon. They are calling for a closer review of the matter by Congress.

Source: The Hill, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Lawmakers from the Republican Party suggest the freeze on weapons deliveries may have resulted from a "miscommunication" between Trump and Hegseth.

An unnamed aide to a Republican senator described it as "a clear goof-up on a lot of levels".

Republican sources told The Hill that if Hegseth or members of his team deliberately took steps to bypass the commander-in-chief, it would pose a serious problem.

Republican senators are "alarmed" by reports that Hegseth may have halted weapons deliveries to Ukraine on multiple occasions without informing them, and they now want a detailed account of who in the Pentagon was involved in the freeze.

"That’s a problem," said one Republican senator who requested anonymity.

"To hear there may have been other pauses or this pause went on longer than any of us know, to me that’s alarming," the lawmaker said.

One of the harshest remarks came from Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who told CNN in an interview that Hegseth’s decision to halt arms deliveries to Ukraine was "amateurish".

"Now, with the passing of time, I think it’s clear he’s out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organisation," the senator added.

Senator Lindsey Graham said that Congress must get to "the bottom" of who gave the order to freeze arms deliveries and why.

Democratic Senator Jack Reed believes there was clearly a major breakdown in communication between Hegseth and Trump, something also confirmed by Republican sources.

The sources say that Hegseth acted on a misunderstanding of what Trump actually intended regarding the weapons in question.

Background:

• Last week, it was reported that the Pentagon had suspended deliveries of some artillery shells and air defence equipment to Ukraine, citing the need to preserve stocks for other potential threats.
• Earlier, media reports indicated that Hegseth had unilaterally ordered a halt to the transfer of certain types of weapons to Ukraine despite a military analysis having established that these supplies would not pose a threat to US combat readiness.
• He also did not inform the White House of his decision before the freeze was implemented.
• On 7 July, Trump stated that the United States must provide Ukraine with weapons for its defence. According to media reports, in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump stated that he had not personally been involved in the decision to suspend supplies.

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