According to the memo reportedly written by Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby – described by the network as “a noted skeptic of arming Ukraine” – the department has the power to retake arms designated for Kiev under a program known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).
While CNN sources reported that no weapons have apparently been diverted under the guidance, the policy could “rob Ukraine of billions of dollars worth of US-made materiel expected to be delivered over the coming months and years.”
The memo makes “an already murky picture of the status of US arms shipments to Ukraine” even more uncertain, the network warned, particularly given the expected meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump.
Under the reported memo, weapons in short supply, such as interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems, require direct approval from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before being sent abroad.
The pull-back provision is reportedly part of the same document Hegseth used last month to suspend the flow of weapons, including Patriot missiles, to Ukraine. At the time, Pentagon officials sounded the alarm over dwindling supplies at home, although Trump later ordered that shipments be resumed.
The US president has since said that American weapons could be sent to Ukraine under an arrangement in which the EU would pay Washington “100% of the cost of all military equipment.”
