Pete Hegseth's mistake cost US up to $2.2 million. It caught Pentagon and White House off guard

US Defense Secretary briefly and mistakenly halted a military aid shipment to war-torn Ukraine during President Donald Trump’s first weeks in office without getting final approval. Hegseth cancelled the military aid shipment without a direct order from Donald Trump about a week after he was sworn in as president, a source told news agency Reuters.

This order from Pentagon under Pete Hegseth grounded 11 flights carrying heavy artillery to Ukraine, catching the Pentagon and White House off guard. The grounding of the flights led to a communication scramble from Ukraine and cost $2.2 million.

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Hegseth’s sudden arms halt

The pause led to the US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) stopping 11 flights from US bases in Delaware and Qatar which were loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry and had been bound for Ukraine, according to Reuters. Then hours later, UKrainian and Polish officials asked Washington what was happening. But top national security officials in the White House, Pentagon and US State Department were unable to provide answers, said the news agency.

Holding up the assistance for Kyiv had been discussed at that meeting, but Trump did not give any instruction to that effect. The pause came as Ukraine's military was struggling to fight off Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and in the consequential battle for Russia's Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces were losing ground and have since all but been forced out.

Reuters reported that records it reviewed showed Pete Hegseth had given a verbal order to stop the weapons shipments soon after attending an Oval Office meeting on 30 January, where cutting military aid to Kyiv was discussed, but Trump did not give an instruction to stop it.

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The president was unaware of Hegseth's order, as were other top national security officials in the meeting, Reuters said. According to TRANSCOM records cited by the news agency, the verbal order originated from Mr. Hegseth's office. A TRANSCOM spokesperson confirmed the command received the directive through the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

Military flights resumed by 5 February—less than a week after the order. When asked for comment, the White House told Reuters that Hegseth was acting on President Trump’s directive to pause aid to Ukraine, describing it as the administration’s position at the time.

However, the White House did not clarify why, according to sources who spoke to Reuters, key national security officials were unaware of the order or why the decision was quickly reversed.

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‘A complex and fluid situation’

"Negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a complex and fluid situation. We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

"The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office."

It remains unclear whether Trump later questioned or reprimanded Hegseth. In March, Hegseth and several top officials—including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz—faced criticism after a journalist was mistakenly added to a group chat discussing airstrike plans on Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.

Reuters reported that Waltz ultimately stepped in to overturn the aid cancellations. He was forced out last Thursday and has since been nominated to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations.