The Separation: Inside the Unraveling U.S.-Ukraine Partnership

"The train left the U.S. Army depot in the west of Germany and made for Poland and the Ukrainian border. These were the final 800 miles of a trans-Atlantic supply chain that had sustained Ukraine across more than three long years of war. The freight on this last day in June was 155-millimeter artillery shells, 18,000 of them packed into crates, their fuses separated out to prevent detonation in transit."

"Their ultimate destination was the eastern front, where Vladimir V. Putin's generals were massing forces and firepower against the city of Pokrovsk. The battle was for territory and strategic advantage but also for bragging rights: Mr. Putin wanted to show the American president, Donald J. Trump, that Russia was indeed winning. Advertising their war plan, the Russians had told Mr. Trump's advisers. We're going to slam them harder there. We have the munitions to do that."

"In Washington, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had been talking about munitions, too, testifying to a Senate appropriations subcommittee that those earmarked for Ukraine by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. were still flowing. Three months earlier, in fact, Mr. Hegseth had, unannounced, decided to hold back one crucial class of munitions American-made 155s. The U.S. military's stocks were running low, his advisers had warned; withholding them would force the Europeans to step up, to take greater responsibility for the war in their backyard."

Donald J. Trump promised to bring peace to Ukraine in a single day, but nearly a year of negotiations, territorial apportioning, administration infighting and continued fighting followed. A trans-Atlantic supply chain delivered 18,000 American-made 155-millimeter artillery shells toward Ukraine, their fuses separated for safe transit, bound for the eastern front near Pokrovsk where Russian forces were massing. Russian leaders sought to demonstrate battlefield advantage to the U.S. by concentrating firepower. In Washington, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged munitions flows while previously withholding 155s to compel greater European responsibility amid U.S. stock concerns.

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