6 days ago
Trump's pause on Ukraine aid hurt its readiness, watchdog finds
The Trump administration's decision to pause military aid to Ukraine earlier this year undercut the country's fighting capability and undermined its negotiating position with Russia, according to a newly disclosed assessment from the U.S. European Command.
The eight-day halt in March "had tangible effect' on the conflict as well as "significant residual effects on the delivery of security assistance,' including fuses for some precision-guided weapons and 155 mm ammunition, according to the report led by the Pentagon's acting inspector general, Steve Stebbins.
The pause hindered "the cessation of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine and the restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty,' EUCOM told the inspector general.
The inspector general report relies on the European Command's assessment and marks the first public acknowledgment from the U.S. military of the impact of the Trump administration's March 3-11 pause. It was released this week, just before President Donald Trump met President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage.
The quarterly report, covering April 1 through June 30, is a summary of previously disclosed information and new assessments from military offices including EUCOM and the Defense Intelligence Agency. It provides an overview of U.S. military and civilian aid to Ukraine as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, the operation launched in 2014 to deter Russian aggression.
The Defense Intelligence Agency told the inspector general that "Ukraine's air defenses and F-16s remained insufficient to defend against Russia's overwhelming missile and UAS attacks that were further damaging military and civilian infrastructure.'
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Congress has appropriated or otherwise made available $187 billion for Ukraine military and nonlethal support. As of June 30, $30 billion remained available to spend, the report said.
The report offers a dire picture of Ukraine's prospects without further aid from the U.S. and allies. It said that as of June 30, Ukraine has exhausted nearly all of its Soviet and Russian artillery and rocket ammunition, making it "almost entirely reliant on Western assistance.'
The IG report also discloses a new DIA damage assessment of Ukraine's June drone attack on four Russian bomber bases.
Ukraine reported it launched 117 small, commercially available UAS armed with explosives from cargo trucks positioned in advance outside of the Russian bases and that the operation damaged more than 40 Russian fixed-wing aircraft, including strategic bombers and early warning and control aircraft.
Still, the DIA in a previously undisclosed assessment told the IG that although "at least 10 Russian strategic bombers were destroyed, those losses will only minimally degrade Russia's ability to continue cruise missile strikes against Ukrainian facilities.'
