Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to halt offensive operations against Russia, according to a current official and two former officials briefed on the secret instructions. The move is apparently part of a broader effort to draw President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia into talks on Ukraine and a new relationship with the United States.

The Trump administration has ordered the United States to end offensive cyber operations targeting Russia, part of an effort to draw Russian President Vladimir Putin into talks on ending the war in Ukraine, sources said Sunday.

It's not clear how long the orders will be in effect, but are expected to last for the foreseeable future, according to reporting by The Record.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the U.S. military to cease conducting cyberattacks against Russia, according to reports from the Pentagon. Although the details of the instructions have not been made known, according to the New York Times they were issued prior to the heated argument between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday.

The US has suspended operations and planning for offensive cyber operations against Russia, a senior US official told CNN.

The suspension is “a major blow,” the official said, especially since planning for such operations takes time and research to carry out. The concern, the official said, is that the pause on offensive cyber operations against Russia will make the US more vulnerable to potential cyberattacks from Moscow, which has a formidable cadre of hackers capable of disrupting US critical infrastructure and collecting sensitive intelligence.

Former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who stepped down from the leadership at the end of last year, cast a surprise vote Friday night against Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s controversial nominee to head the Department of Defense.

McConnell’s vote came as a surprise after he voted Thursday night to advance Hegseth’s nomination to a final vote.

The veteran Kentucky lawmaker played his cards close to the vest and didn’t say anything as he walked into the chamber.

The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation’s defense secretary Friday in a dramatic late-night vote, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women.

The U.S. military turned over control of its last base in Niger to local forces on Monday, ending a yearslong counterterrorism mission in the West African country even as violent extremism remains on the rise in the region.