Pentagon, St Dept disagree on Ukraine military aid- report

US defence and state departments often disagree at providing military assistance to Ukraine, which slows it down, Politico reports, citing a senior White House official.

The State Department and the Pentagon "are moving at different speeds based on different vantage points," the official said.

"State [the Department of State] is looking at opportunities, DOD [the Department of Defence] is looking at threats," they were quoted as saying.

"Folks at DOD would say they need to think about the pros and cons of each weapons decision, and that responsibility falls on them."

The latest example is the debate on sending Ukraine the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS.

"The Pentagon initially resisted sending the missiles because they did not have any to spare in America’s own stockpile," Politico reports.

US officials acknowledge that Pentagon leaders take a "deliberate, process-driven approach" to assessing Ukraine’s battlefield needs against the wider conflict.

Defence officials, however, have said their first priority has always been to give Kyiv what it needs for the fight at hand.