Senator McConnell accused the Pentagon of blocking approved aid to Ukraine

Republican Senator Mitch McConnell stated that officials at the U.S. Department of Defense are blocking the delivery of weapons to Ukraine that were approved by Congress last year. 

He wrote about this in a column for The Washington Post. The issue concerns a package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which provides for direct purchases of equipment from American defense companies.

According to the senator, $400 million in funds are “stuck” in the relevant Pentagon department, which is headed by Deputy Secretary Elbridge Colby. McConnell noted that Colby considers aid to Ukraine and the Baltic states “wasteful” and attempted to exclude these expenditures from the 2026 budget request. Although Congress restored these appropriations to the National Defense Authorization Act, the department refuses to provide an explanation for the delay.

Colby has previously been linked to decisions to suspend arms deliveries to partners. The Republican majority in both chambers of Congress disagrees with the Department of Defense’s position. Lawmakers are currently seeking official explanations from the Pentagon’s analysis division to unblock the approved aid.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, in a memo to Pentagon chief Pete Hagset, highlighted the need to shift the priorities of U.S. defense strategy toward countering China. This could have influenced the temporary suspension of arms supplies to Ukraine.