Pentagon policy chief not responsible for halting weapons to Ukraine: source

The Trump administration’s AUKUS review head, Pentagon official Elbridge Colby, is under attack over a decision to deny Kyiv defensive weapons, but The Australian has been told he was not responsible for the pause.

Elbridge Colby, the US under secretary of defence for policy, at a Senate armed services committee confirmation hearing in Washington in March. Picture: Bloomberg

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The Pentagon’s defence policy chief, Elbridge Colby, did not take the decision or provide any recommendation to halt the provision of defensive weapons to Ukraine after President Donald Trump resumed shipments this week as he toughens his stance on Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

While Mr Colby – the under secretary of defence for policy – has been attacked by nameless critics in the US media for prompting the delay, The Australian has been informed that he was not responsible for the pause.

Mr Colby is leading a review of the AUKUS defence pact with Australia and the UK that includes the supply to Australia of US nuclear-powered attack submarines.

On Monday (local time), the President revealed that he would send more weapons to Ukraine so the country could better defend itself at a crucial time with Russia dialling up its drone and missile attacks.

US media reports suggested that the President was at odds with the Pentagon which had recently opted to halt munitions shipments given concern over diminishing American stockpiles and that Mr Colby had prompted the pause in deliveries.

Yet it is not Mr Colby’s role to take these types of decisions.

The Australian understands that Mr Colby instead led the development of a classified memo which included a “decision tool” or “framework” setting out what Ukraine might need from the US.

Vice President JD Vance and Elbridge Colby in March. Picture: AFP

It was an instrument to help guide decision-making at a higher level and was aimed at assisting Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in making informed decisions about how America could support Ukraine moving forward and advise the President as needed.

A US Defence Official told The Australian that “this memo included a framework, really a decision tool, laying out what Ukraine needs, what we might anticipate Ukraine needing.”

“People refer to this memo as directing a pause or recommending a pause even though it actually doesn’t do any of those things,” the official said. “There’s actually nothing in it related to a pause one way or the other. All it provides is, it lays out the capabilities that we would expect the Ukrainians to require or ask for. It does not say anything about halting deliveries, accelerating deliveries.”

“Think of it as a ‘decision tool.’ The memo provides the decision tool which is the framework ... to allow decision makers to consult that tool as they review what aid may or may not go forward,” the official said. “It was strictly informative. He prepared a framework to show how the United States could support Ukraine to inform senior leaders.”

The framework was flexible and looked at how US requirements might shift in the event of particular contingencies – such as Ukraine or Moscow having a breakthrough or gaining an advantage in the conflict.

The Australian understands that Mr Hegseth received the memo and took it to the White House to ensure it aligned with the administration’s priorities and then signed it, bringing the framework into effect.

No clear explanation has yet emerged about who was responsible for the decision to halt defensive weapons to Ukraine or what the strategic rationale for the pause was. However, a series of stories critical of Mr Colby have appeared in recent days.

Politico reported one source saying that “he (Mr Colby) is pissing off just about everyone I know inside the administration” and that “they all view him as the guy who’s going to make the US do less in the world in general”.

Pressed on Tuesday about who made the call to pause the weapons shipments, Mr Trump replied by saying “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

The next day, when asked how such a big decision could be made without his knowledge, Mr Trump was defensive.

“I would know,” he said. “If a decision was made, I will know. I’ll be the first to know. In fact, most likely, I’d give the order.”

The decision by Mr Trump to resume the shipment of munitions to Ukraine this week has fuelled suggestions of growing differences within the administration and even within the Pentagon itself.

Speaking on Thursday, Mr Trump told NBC that he had done a deal with NATO for the US to provide weapons to Ukraine.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, a hundred per cent,” he said. “We’re going to be sending Patriots (air-defence missiles) to NATO, and then NATO will distribute that.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said he had discussed new ideas to try and end the war with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum in Malaysia.

A Russian drone is shot down by Ukrainian air defences on Thursday night during a mass drone and missile attack in Kyiv. Picture: AFP

Following a 50-minute conversation with his Russian counterpart on Thursday, Mr Rubio said he would tell President Trump about “a new and different approach” to peace talks that came up in the discussion.

“We need to see a road map moving forward about how this conflict can conclude, and we shared some ideas about what that might look like,” Mr Rubio said.

The US President last spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call on July 4, with the Ukrainian leader describing it as “very important and fruitful” and revealing that it focused on air defence, joint defence production and procurement.

The previous day, on July 3, Mr Trump spoke to Mr Putin.

But the President said he was “very disappointed with the conversation” and that “I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”

At his cabinet meeting on Tuesday local time, Mr Trump said that “we get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, [if] you want to know the truth.

“He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”