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President Donald Trump said Monday he plans to send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine after his administration paused certain shipments last week.

“We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to – they have to be able to defend themselves,” Trump said ahead of a dinner with his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu.

“They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons,” Trump added. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard.”

The president’s latest remarks come after a senior White House official told CNN last week the Trump administration was pausing some weapons shipments to Ukraine, including air defense missiles. The decision came after a review of military spending and American support to foreign countries that was signed off by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said at the time that the decision was made “to put America’s interests first.”

Some US officials insinuated the review of aid to Ukraine was related in part to the Pentagon’s push to focus on China and be prepared for potential future conflict in the Pacific – an issue prioritized by the Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby.

“The Department of Defense continues to provide the President with robust options to continue military aid to Ukraine, consistent with his goal of bringing this tragic war to an end. At the same time, the Department is rigorously examining and adapting its approach to achieving this objective while also preserving US forces’ readiness for Administration defense priorities,” Colby said in a statement at the time of the pause.

Russia welcomed the halt in certain shipments to Ukraine, claiming – without providing any evidence – it was made because the US did not have enough weapons.

“At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense will send additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Monday. “Our framework for POTUS to evaluate military shipments across the globe remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities.”

The US has been the biggest single donor of military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, supplying Ukraine with air defense systems, drones, rocket launchers, radars, tanks and anti-armor weapons, leading to concerns over dwindling US stockpiles.

Trump previously halted all shipments of military aid to Ukraine in March following a heated Oval Office argument with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump resumed aid flows to Ukraine about a week later.

The decision to send additional weapons also comes after Trump spoke separately last week with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. He said afterward his talk with Putin was disappointing and there was “no progress” towards a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Zelensky in recent weeks has been pleading with Western allies to bolster his nation’s aerial defenses after intensifying Russian airborne attacks. Russia launched a record number of drones at Ukraine overnight on Friday, just hours after the Trump-Putin phone call.

Trump later Friday said the US was considering Ukraine’s request for more Patriot defense systems after a “very good” phone call with Zelensky. The Ukrainian president said on Saturday that latest conversation with Trump was the best and “most productive” he has had.

Trump on Monday reaffirmed his displeasure with the Russian leader, saying: “I’m not happy with President Putin at all.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report.

Fireworks are the suspected cause of a brush fire that ignited in a hilly area of Laguna Beach on Monday afternoon, prompting evacuation orders for a few hundred homes, officials said.

The Rancho fire started around 2:15 p.m. near Rancho Laguna Road and Morningside Drive, according to the Laguna Beach Fire Department. Fire crews halted forward progress of the blaze at 5 p.m., at which time the fire was estimated to be four to five acres, according to department spokesperson Chip Gilmore.

Fire officials are continuing to investigate the blaze, including whether fireworks are at the root of its ignition, Laguna Beach Mayor Alex Rounaghi told The Times. No one is in custody at this time, he said.

Evacuation orders were issued for La Mirada Street, Katella Street, Summit Drive and Baja Street, and a temporary evacuation center was opened at the Community and Susi Q Center, at 380 3rd St.

With danger from the fire ebbing, evacuation orders were lifted Monday evening. Gilmore said crews would remain at the scene overnight defending properties from potential flare-ups and bolstering containment lines.

Southern California Edison, which shut off power to nearby homes when the fire began, anticipated restoring service by 9:30 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Laguna Beach Fire Chief Niko King said that four firefighting helicopters, one firefighting aircraft and multiple ground crews were deployed to combat the three-acre fire.

“We think we’ve made the right kind of progress so far. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we think we got a good handle on it,” City Manager Dave Kiff told The Times around 4:30 p.m.

Rounaghi said it appeared that no homes had been damaged thus far but urged residents to continue to heed evacuation orders.

The rush to evacuate the area led to major roads across Laguna Beach being clogged with traffic. A stretch of South Coast Highway between Broadway Street and Crown Valley Parkway was closed because of the fire. Traffic heading south was being diverted to Laguna Canyon Road, according to the city.

Kiff attributed the early success of firefighting efforts to the rapid response of mutual aid partners such as the Orange County Fire Authority and to wildfire safety improvements implemented by the city.

The Fire Department had recently thinned vegetation in the area where the fire ignited in an effort to limit the amount of available fuel for a potential wildfire, Rounaghi said. This proactive thinning is regularly completed in the city’s designated fuel modification zones.

In addition, the city has installed a special water tank in the hills where the Rancho fire is burning, Kiff said. The tank is connected to a high-pressure water line so that it can be refilled rapidly, thereby increasing the rate at which firefighting aircraft can perform water drops.

Over the last several years, the city has spent more than $25 million enacting a fire mitigation plan approved in 2019, Rounaghi said. The city recently updated that plan in the wake of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires and is working on additional fire safety improvements.

“We know it’s not a question of if but when the next wildfire happens, and certainly today is a perfect example of that,” Rounaghi said. “So we go above and beyond in terms of preparedness.”

The Rancho fire is the latest in a series of blazes believed to be connected to fireworks.

Seven workers were killed after a fireworks warehouse exploded last week in Esparto, a rural area 30 miles northwest of Sacramento.

On Thursday, one person was killed and multiple people injured in a fireworks-related fire that engulfed four homes in Pacoima, and another person was killed in a fireworks explosion at a Simi Valley home.