KARACHI: US President Donald Trump’s administration is pausing its offensive cyber operations against Rus­sia, officials say, as a diplomatic push continues to end the Ukraine war, BBC News reported.

The reasoning for the instruction has not been publicly stated, and it is not clear how long the halt might last. The defence department has declined to comment.

The directive reportedly came before Trump ended up in a televised row with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday.

The halt of American cyber operations against Russia came from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in new guidance to US Cyber Command, officials told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

It leaves questions over the strength of the US fightback in the cyber arena against alleged Russian hacking, election interference and sabotage efforts that have targeted the Western nations which have sided with Ukraine during the war.

Hundreds or thousands of personnel could be affected by Hegseth’s order, according to The Record, a cybersecurity publication that first reported it. Operations aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s digital defences are likely to be among those affected.

In a statement, a senior defence department official said they would not comment on the issue due to operation concerns, but added: “There is no greater priority to Secretary Hegseth than the safety of the Warfighter in all operations, to include the cyber domain.”

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz denied that a policy change had been discussed, but acknowledged in an interview on CNN that there would be “all kinds of carrots and sticks to get this war to an end”.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2025