Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that $400 million in congressionally approved funding for Ukraine has been released after weeks of scrutiny from lawmakers over the delay in disbursing the aid.
The funding “was released as of yesterday,” Hegseth said in response to questions during a House Armed Services Committee hearing.
Congress approved $400 million for Ukraine aid in spending legislation that was signed into law in February, and lawmakers were growing frustrated. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s defense appropriations chair, said in a Washington Post op-ed on Tuesday that the funds were “now collecting dust” and held up by the Pentagon policy directorate.
Pentagon Comptroller Jay Hurst told reporters after the hearing that the money had been under a legal review.
Trending
At the hearing, he told lawmakers the timeline for the aid reaching Ukraine would depend on how Ukraine allocates the assistance. “It depends on what they buy with it,” he said.
Supporters of Ukraine have repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration over its handling of the war.
Last year, the administration imposed a monthslong “pause” to U.S. assistance to Ukraine as President Donald Trump sought to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia. Military aid to Kyiv resumed in July.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska pressed Hegseth in Wednesday’s hearing on why the funds approved this year had not been obligated sooner.
Bacon, in an interview, said he began raising concerns after hearing from fellow Republicans that the Pentagon was not moving the funding. He has not received a straight answer about who delayed the funding and why, but he attributed it to broader skepticism about European alliances from Pentagon policy chief Bridge Colby and to some extent Hegseth — part of an “isolationist” current in his party.
“It reflects more of a 1890s to 1930s foreign policy — defend the homeland and Western Hemisphere, minus all the experiences we’ve gained from World War II,” he said. “[NATO allies] have been there for us, and I just think they get undersold.”
Hegseth provided the update on the Ukraine aid in an exchange with Rep. Sarah Elfreth, a Maryland Democrat who criticized the Trump administration’s “public belittling” of Ukraine.
“Ukraine has stepped up perhaps more than any other ally for us in the Middle East. They’re harnessing the superiority that they have generated from a hard-fought war with Russia,” she said. “They are intercepting Iranian drones that threaten us and partner forces in the Middle East.” Trump on Wednesday spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said afterward there may soon be a pause in fighting with Ukraine.
“I asked him about that,” Trump said. “Even if it’s a little bit of a ceasefire, there’s so many people being killed. It’s ridiculous.”
Author
