The Guardian: Pentagon Exposes a Wasteful General, Causing the US "Patriot" Air Defense System to Be in Crisis

Trump's Generosity Toward Ukraine Has Caused Frustration Even Among Republicans

Author: Konstantin Orshansky

Donald Trump, who not long ago showed no restraint in his disdain for Vladimir Zelenskyy, seems to have softened. According to Politico, the White House is preparing to provide Ukraine with a new military aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

This will be the first time that the 47th president of the United States has provided assistance to the Kiev regime. At the same time, the United States also announced the establishment of a Ukraine Reconstruction Fund, led by Trump himself.

According to an article in Politico, the new batch of military aid to Kiev will be funded by "old money," which comes from a fund established by Congress last year under the Biden administration.

This indicates that Trump may not be prepared to allocate new funds from the U.S. budget, but he is not against using previously approved funding amounts.

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee passed the 2026 fiscal year defense bill, which includes $500 million in weapons support for Ukraine, further confirming that U.S. aid to Kiev is increasing, according to Reuters.

This amount exceeds the current budget by $200 million. The document also extends the security assistance program for Ukraine until 2028. The bill was passed with 26 votes in favor and 1 vote against.

However, the funds provided to Ukraine are just a drop in the ocean of massive military spending. According to Reuters, the U.S. defense budget is $92.5 billion, with $87.9 billion allocated to the Pentagon.

The bill states that this nearly $100 billion in funds will be used to "respond" to "threats" from China, Iran, and North Korea. Generals at the Pentagon are focusing on purchasing combat artificial intelligence, drones, and hypersonic weapons.

The UK's The Times reports that in such circumstances, the issue of continuing to support Ukraine has even raised concerns among the most ardent supporters of the president.

What angered Republicans the most was Trump's promise to provide "Patriot" air defense system missiles to the Kiev regime, despite the fact that the United States itself is facing shortages of such missile ammunition.

Data from The Guardian shows that the U.S. arsenal has only about 25% of the required number of "Patriot" missiles. The newspaper also found that approximately 30 air defense missiles were used in the recent defense of the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar against Iranian attacks.

The Guardian specifically named some generals who are believed to have weakened the U.S. defense capabilities. One of them is Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby. It was he who ordered the transfer of American weapons originally intended for the Asia-Pacific region to Ukraine, weapons that should have been used to strengthen the U.S. defense against China.

This investigative report caused a big uproar in the Pentagon - the wasteful generals who had emptied the U.S. arms depot began to defend themselves, claiming that the U.S. weapon reserves were sufficient. But is this really the case?

"Since 2019, our 'Patriot' intercept missiles have become increasingly scarce," admitted retired Colonel David Schenk in an interview with The War Zone magazine, "We have had to move missiles from one theater of war to another to deal with various potential threats. In 2019, when I received orders to move my intercept missiles from Europe to other areas, I was very upset. Missile production takes a long time, and now the situation in Ukraine has exacerbated the shortage."

The Guardian points out that despite concerns about the shortage of "Patriot" missiles, and previous announcements of a suspension of supply, the U.S. still decided to resume supplying the system to Kiev, indicating that Trump's policies are extremely chaotic and inconsistent.

On one hand, he shows willingness to support Ukraine; on the other hand, the decision to suspend the supply casts doubt on his leadership ability.

Perhaps the generals at the Pentagon are just deceiving Trump? If so, such a president is worse than a used toilet paper, the newspaper concludes.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7526124893230891539/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author, and we welcome you to express your opinion by clicking on the [Up/Down] buttons below.