Pentagon suspends August military drills with South Korea

The Pentagon on Monday formally suspended a major military exercise planned for August with South Korea, a much-anticipated move stemming from President Donald Trump's nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

FILE - In this March 12, 2016, file photo, Marines of the U.S., left, and South Korea wearing blue headbands on their helmets, take positions after landing on a beach during the joint military combined amphibious exercise, called Ssangyong, part of the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military exercises, in Pohang, South Korea. The Pentagon on Monday, June 18, 2018. (Kim Jun-bum/Yonhap via AP, File)

Dana White, spokeswoman for the Defense Department, said planning for the summer drills has stopped, but there have been no decisions made on any other military exercises with South Korea. Military exercises with other countries in the Pacific will continue.

Speaking at a news conference last Tuesday after his summit with Kim, Trump abruptly announced that he was suspending military exercises with the South, "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should." He added that dumping the drills will save the U.S. "a tremendous amount of money. Plus, I think it's very provocative."

His announcement appeared to catch U.S. defense officials by surprise, and his comments ran counter to long-held American arguments that the exercises are critical for effective operations with allies and are defensive in nature. The Pentagon has for years flatly denied North Korean assertions that the exercises are "provocative."

FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2016 file photo, South Korean army soldiers conduct an anti-terror drill as part of Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. The Pentagon on Monday, June 18, 2018, formally suspended a major military exercise planned for August with South Korea, a much-anticipated move stemming from President Donald Trump's nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

But as the days went by, the U.S. and Seoul began discussions about temporarily suspending the large Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises that usually take place in August and possibly other joint drills while nuclear diplomacy with North Korea continues. Seoul's Defense Ministry said Friday that Defense Minister Song Young-moo held "deep" discussions about the drills with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis in a telephone conversation Thursday evening.

Trump's decision to suspend the exercises, coupled with the vague joint statement issued after his summit with Kim, have reinforced fears in South Korea that the North is attempting to take advantage of a U.S. president who appears to care less about the traditional alliance than his predecessors.

FILE - In this file photo Sept. 18, 2017 provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber, F-35B stealth fighter jets and South Korean F-15K fighter jets fly over the Korean Peninsula during a joint drills, South Korea. The Pentagon on Monday, June 18, 2018. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP, File)

Last year's Ulchi Freedom Guardian went on for 11 days in August and involved about 17,500 U.S. troops. Also participating were troops from nations that contributed forces during the 1950-53 Korean War, including Australia, Britain, Canada and Colombia.

The other major U.S. exercises with South Korea — Key Resolve and Foal Eagle — took place earlier this spring. They historically include live-fire drills with tanks, aircraft and warships and feature about 10,000 American and 200,000 Korean troops. The drills typically begin in March but were delayed a bit because of the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.

North Korea has always reacted to the Ulchi exercises with belligerence and often its own demonstrations of military capability.

FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2017 file photo, South Korean army soldiers aim their machine guns during the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise in Yongin, South Korea. The Pentagon on Monday, June 18, 2018, formally suspended a major military exercise planned for August with South Korea, a much-anticipated move stemming from President Donald Trump's nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (Hong Gi-won/Yonhap via AP, File)

During last year's Ulchi exercises, North Korea fired a powerful new intermediate-range missile over Japan in what its state media described as a "muscle-flexing" countermeasure to the drills.

Military readiness and lethality have been key priorities for Mattis, so it is still not clear what, if any, smaller exercises may be conducted in the region with South Korea or if more desktop drills may be planned to compensate for the lack of larger, more coordinated events with various ships, aircraft and thousands of troops.

Defense officials are also scrambling to pull together cost estimates for the various exercises with the South to inform Trump's assertion that the suspension will save an enormous amount of money. Mattis's office sent out a request to military commands last Wednesday seeking information on costs, but the Pentagon has yet to provide a public answer.

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2015 file photo, U.S. and South Korean army soldiers pose on a floating bridge on the Hantan river after a river crossing operation, part of an annual joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States against a possible attack from North Korea, in Yeoncheon, south of the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas, South Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon is poised to send $1 billion in new military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said Tuesday as the Senate moved ahead on long-awaited legislation to fund the weapons Kyiv desperately needs to stall gains being made by Russian forces in the war.

The decision comes after months of frustration, as bitterly divided members of Congress deadlocked over the funding, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson to cobble together a bipartisan coalition to pass the bill. The $95 billion foreign aid package, including billions for Israel and Taiwan, passed the House on Saturday, and the Senate approval was expected either Tuesday or Wednesday.

The votes are the result of weeks of high-voltage debate, including threats from Johnson’s hard-right faction to oust him as speaker. About $61 billion of the aid is for Ukraine.

The package includes an array of ammunition, including air defense munitions and large amounts of artillery rounds that are much in demand by Ukrainian forces, as well as armored vehicles and other weapons. The U.S. officials said some of the weapons will be delivered very quickly to the battlefront — at times within days — but it could take longer for other items to arrive. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid had not yet been publicly announced.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, would not confirm the package or details, but said the U.S. has a robust logistical system in place, built over the past two years of weapons’ deliveries to Ukraine, and is “doing everything we can to be poised to respond quickly” once the bill is signed. He said the U.S. has storehouses of military equipment in Europe and — as it's done in the past — can tap those to get aid into Ukraine within days.

America’s infusion of weapons comes on the heels of an announcement by the U.K. on Tuesday, pledging an additional $620 million in new military supplies for Ukraine, including long-range missiles and 4 million rounds of ammunition.

The announcement reflects President Joe Biden’s promise Monday in a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the U.S. would send the badly needed air defense weapons once the Senate approved the bill. Zelensky said in a posting on X, formerly Twitter, that Biden also assured him that a coming package of aid would include long-range and artillery capabilities.

The latest tranche of weapons will be provided through presidential drawdown authority, or PDA, which pulls systems and munitions from existing U.S. stockpiles and sends them quickly to the war front. Some of the munitions are already in Europe, so could move within days to Ukrainian forces.

Last week, an array of U.S. leaders described how urgently Ukraine needs the infusion of aid. Without it, said CIA Director Bill Burns, Ukraine could lose the war to Russia by the end of this year. And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told House members that conditions on the battlefield were shifting and Russian forces were making incremental gains.

Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, bluntly describe the situation to the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, saying Ukraine is facing ” dire battlefield conditions.” Desperate Ukrainian troops are rationing or running out of ammunition on the front lines.

During a virtual meeting last Friday of defense ministers in the NATO-Ukraine Council, Austin underscored the need for “immediate, concerted action” on air defense weapons for Kyiv, the Pentagon said. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Zelenskyy attended the meeting, along with other NATO allies.

Pentagon leaders were preparing to meet with defense officials from Europe and around the world on Friday to discuss international aid for Ukraine. The gathering — created by Austin and known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — has been meeting about monthly for the past two years, but in recent sessions officials have expressed growing consternation over the U.S. gridlock.

More than $20 billion in the aid bill is earmarked to replenish U.S. military stocks that have been depleted because they were sent to Ukraine.

Since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, the U.S. has sent more than $44 billion worth of weapons, maintenance, training and spare parts to Ukraine. For the bulk of that time, the aid packages were moving routinely every few weeks. But the money was drying up by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. And by mid-December, the Pentagon said it had run out of money and had to stop sending weapons because, without the funding package stalled in Congress, it could no longer afford to replace them.

The $1 billion package was first reported by Reuters.

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a press briefing on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber as the Senate prepares to advance the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., arrives as the Senate prepares to advance the $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan passed by the House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - A steel worker manufactures 155 mm M795 artillery projectiles at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pa., Thursday, April 13, 2023. The Pentagon could get weapons moving to Ukraine within days if Congress passes a long-delayed aid bill. That's because it has a network of storage sites in the U.S. and Europe that already hold the ammunition and air defense components that Kyiv desperately needs. The House approved $61 billion in funding for the war-torn country Saturday, April 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a press briefing on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 at the Pentagon in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

This photo, provided by head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration Oleh Kiper, firefighters work on the site of a damaged building after a Russian drone attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration Oleh Kiper via AP)