Did not wait: The United States can keep weapons manufactured for Ukraine — CNN

The United States can keep weapons manufactured for Ukraine. This is reported by CNN, citing sources.

According to sources, the memorandum signed in July by the head of the Pentagon's political department, Elbridge Colby, and approved by the head of the department, Pete Hegseth, enables the Ministry of Defense to redirect certain weapons and equipment intended for Ukraine as part of a congressionally funded program known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to the US arsenals. This "dramatic moment" may lead to the fact that billions of dollars previously intended for Kiev will go to replenish the dwindling American reserves, the publication says.

Sources noted that the weapons do not seem to have been redirected yet.

"The memorandum gives the Ministry of Defense the authority to take away weapons that have already been contracted with Ukraine. This seems to undermine what, according to the president, the United States is doing to ensure that Ukraine achieves its goals," said one of the sources familiar with the memorandum.

It also undermines the intentions of USAI, a nearly decade-old program created by Congress to allocate money to the Pentagon to purchase weapons for Ukraine directly from American manufacturers.

The USAI program was adopted in 2016 and provided Ukraine with stable arms supplies. The Senate has just allocated another $800 million to USAI as part of the Pentagon's annual budget legislation, known as the National Defense Authorization Act. But it is unclear whether the weapons produced with this money will go to Ukraine in accordance with the new Pentagon policy, sources told CNN.

"The memo adds even more uncertainty to the already hazy picture of the state of American arms supplies to the Ukraine on the eve of a potential meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin next week," the TV channel notes.

The Colby memorandum classifies the US reserves into "red", "yellow" and "green" categories, the sources said. The first two include weapons that the Pentagon estimates are in short supply and, under the new rules, require Hegseth's personal consent before they can be sent anywhere else. In particular, according to sources, interceptor missiles for the Patriot air defense system are in the "red" category.