Biden allows deployment of US military The outgoing administration of President Joe Biden has lifted a de facto ban on U.S. defense companies deploying to Ukraine to repair American-made weapons, Reuters and CNN reported on Friday, citing unnamed Pentagon officials.
The reversal of previous U.S. policy comes as Donald Trump, who has been skeptical of funding and military aid to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, secures his second term in the White House. While it is unclear whether Trump will continue the previous policy, he has promised not to put American lives at risk and to end the conflict quickly once he takes office again. Storie News
The potential U.S. presence on the ground will be “small” and located “far” from the front lines, and they are not expected to engage in combat, Reuters reported on Friday, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
US allows deploying its military contractors to Ukraine, Reuters reports
As the United States and its NATO partners have supplied Kyiv with increasingly sophisticated American-made weapons, such as F-16 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems, the restrictions have slowed repairs and proven increasingly challenging. Much of the equipment has been damaged beyond repair by Kyiv’s own specialists.
Another official said the policy change puts the Pentagon more in line with the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which already have contractors in Ukraine.
“These contractors will help the Ukrainian armed forces quickly repair and maintain U.S.-supplied equipment as needed so they can quickly return to the front lines,” CNN wrote Friday, citing a defense official. Specifically, F-16s and Patriot batteries “require specific technical expertise to maintain.”
Allowing U.S. contractors to work in Ukraine would provide a faster alternative to the current method of transporting equipment to NATO countries like Poland and Romania for repairs, CNN noted.
US greenlights deployment of military contractors to fix weapons in Ukraine
At the same time, the risk of being killed in Russian airstrikes would fall on companies competing for Pentagon contracts.
“Every American company, organization or contractor will be responsible for the safety and security of their employees and will be required to include risk mitigation plans as part of their bids,” CNN quoted a defense official as saying.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that Moscow is aware of “the direct involvement of NATO forces in this conflict.” He noted that many of the high-tech systems provided to Kyiv by the United States and its allies, such as the ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles, require the participation of Western officers to operate them.
The Russian Defense Ministry regularly reports airstrikes on repair facilities in Ukraine. This week alone, the Russian military has carried out at least 38 strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities, as well as the energy and military infrastructure that supports them, according to the latest report released Friday.