Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth faced a series of tough questions, including on Ukraine, at a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee hearing on June 11, The Hill reports.
Republican senators from the Armed Services Subcommittee bombarded Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth with tough questions.
Mitch McConnell, one of three Republicans who immediately opposed Hegseth’s appointment, pressed him on budget issues and warned against leniency toward Russia in attempts to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
McConnell said US allies are “wondering whether we’re in the middle of brokering what appears to be allowing the Russians to define victory. I think victory is defined by the people who have to live there — the Ukrainians.”
“I think victory is determined by the people who live there—that is, Ukrainians,” he said and asked Hegseth directly whose side the Trump administration is on.
“The reputation of the United States is at stake. Are we going to defend our democratic allies from authoritarian aggressors?” he asked. “We don’t want to see headlines at the end of this conflict saying that Russia is winning and America is losing.”
Later, Senator Lindsey Graham asked Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Keane, who was present, if he believed Putin would stop once he got what he wanted in Ukraine. Keane said he “didn’t believe” that, and Hegseth said, “We’ll see.”
Graham then sharply objected: “So he says no! It’s the 1930s all over again.”
Also this week, Hegseth said that the US administration plans to cut the budget for security assistance to Ukraine.
As reported, Donald Trump’s administration has not allocated military aid to Ukraine since coming to power, but weapons within the packages announced by the previous administration continue to arrive.
