Aid controversy: US Defense Secretary Hegseth’s order grounds key arms flights to Ukraine

An order from US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth’s office grounded eleven flights loaded with heavy artillery headed to Ukraine.

Reuters reports on Tuesday that the canceled flights sparked panicked communications from Ukraine and a scramble to get the planes in the air.

One week later, the artillery was headed to Ukraine, with a further cost of $2.2 million, according to the Newspaper.

The report added that the grounding of the flights came from a verbal order from Hegseth’s office and followed a January 30 Oval Office meeting at which US President Donald Trump floated the idea of stopping Ukraine aid.

However, no order to stop the aid was given and Trump was completely unaware of Hegseth’s action.

But the White House told Reuters that Hegseth had followed a directive from Trump to pause aid to Ukraine, which it said was the administration’s position at the time.

Meanwhile, the United States and Ukraine recently entered into a historic agreement on 30 April — a partnership for the reconstruction and long-term economic success of Ukraine.

Sharing the details a few days ago, the White House described the agreement as “a fully collaborative partnership” that would be mutually beneficial to both countries.