Ukraine responded cautiously Tuesday after President Trump ordered a formal pause on U.S. military aid for Kyiv’s fight against Russian invaders — the biggest step Mr. Trump has taken so far to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Trump “has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well,” a White House official said in a statement. “We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution.”

Ukraine said Tuesday that its forces can hold the battlefield amid the halt in U.S. military aid, which Mr. Trump ordered in the wake of his contentious White House meeting with Mr. Zelenskyy on Friday. Following the meeting, European members of NATO vowed to increase their own military aid for Ukraine.

Norway will continue providing logistics support to U.S. Navy warships, despite calls for a boycott from a Norwegian company over last week’s Trump-Zelenskyy blowup in the Oval Office.

Norwegian fuel supplier Haltbakk Bunkers blasted the Trump administration on social media following Friday’s heated meeting. “Huge credit to the president of Ukraine [for] restraining himself and for keeping calm even though [the] USA put on a backstabbing TV show. It made us sick,” the privately held company said in a since-deleted Facebook post. “No fuel to Americans! We encourage all Norwegians and Europeans to follow our example.”

The Norwegian government subsequently pushed back at the company, asserting that calls to ban support to U.S. Navy vessels aren’t in line with the government’s policy. Defense Minister Tore O. Sandvik confirmed Monday that “all requested support has been provided” to its NATO ally.

The Trump administration is disputing allegations that it is deliberately disregarding Russian cyberattackers amid the president’s efforts to broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on a memo suggesting the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has stopped viewing Russia as a threat. CISA has publicly disputed the reporting. “CISA’s mission is to defend against all cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, including from Russia. There has been no change in our posture,” the agency said in a post on X. “Any reporting to the contrary is fake and undermines our national security.”

Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said on X the administration never issued the alleged memo and that the Guardian refused to share the purported memo with the agency. Despite the denials, The New York Times published its own story Monday saying that Mr. Hegseth has ordered U.S. Cyber Command to halt offensive operations against Russia. The report cited “a current official and two former officials” — none of whom were named — as having been “briefed on the secret instructions.”

Elbridge Colby, a self-described conservative realist whom Mr. Trump has picked to be undersecretary of defense for policy, a key position, faces a grilling on Capitol Hill Tuesday, as the Senate Armed Services Committee weighed his nomination.

At issue specifically are Mr. Colby’s views on Taiwan. The nominee has indicated he favors reducing the importance of Taiwan in the United States’ strategic standoff against China.

He stated in October that he is unsure if the United States has the resolve and ability to defend Taiwan. That statement is at odds with the commander of the Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. Sam Paparo, who has said U.S. forces would defeat China in a war over the island, though at a great cost in lives and equipment.

Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton, a member of the Armed Services panel, has raised concerns about Mr. Colby’s views to the White House, setting off fierce criticism of the senators from Trump supporters who claim Mr. Cotton is trying to torpedo the nomination.

For decades, China has pushed the tired claim that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China and that the U.S. has somehow pledged to endorse this fantasy. “But this argument falls apart under even the slightest scrutiny,” writes Miles Yu, an opinion contributor to Threat Status.

“It has no real historical, legal or factual legitimacy,” writes Mr. Yu. “The [Chinese Communist Party’s] justification for its aggression toward Taiwan is nothing more than smoke and mirrors — held up by brute force, propaganda and diplomatic intimidation.”

“Despite Beijing’s constant drumbeat about Taiwan being a ‘renegade province,’” he writes, “the truth is simple: The People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan. Not for a single day.”

• March 4 — How Terrorists Use the Internet and Online Networks for Recruitment, House Homeland Security Committee

• March 5 — Countering Threats Posed by the Chinese Communist Party to U.S. National Security, House Homeland Security Committee

• March 5 — Protecting Maritime Security and Stability in the Indo-Pacific: Challenges for the United States and Japan, Wilson Center

• March 5 — Investigating the Threat to U.S.-funded Research, House Science Committee

• March 6 — Rebuilding America’s Maritime Industrial Base with Sens. Mark Kelly and Todd Young, Hudson Institute

• March 6 — Iran on the Brink: Resistance, Repression and Global Power Shifts, Hudson Institute