In recent months, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has decided to allow U.S. defense contractors to work in Ukraine to maintain and repair weapons provided by the Pentagon. U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday this was a significant policy change aimed at helping Kiev fight russia, reports UNN.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the contractors would be few and far between and far from the front lines. They will not be involved in combat operations.
They will help ensure that U.S.-provided equipment “can be repaired quickly if damaged and maintained as needed,” the official said.
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The publication notes that since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the United States has provided Kiev with tens of billions of dollars in weapons. But Kiev has had to either move the U.S.-provided weapons out of the country for overhaul or rely on videoconferencing and other creative solutions to repair these systems domestically.
Restrictions in the past have sometimes slowed repairs and become increasingly difficult as the U.S. has supplied Kiev with more sophisticated systems such as F-16 fighter jets and Patriot air defense systems, officials said.
A lot of equipment in the country is not being used because it is damaged, a second U.S. official told Reuters.
The move is the latest easing of restrictions by the Biden administration, which has sought to help Ukraine defend itself against a 2 1/2-year-old invasion by moscow without directly confronting nuclear-armed russia.
A third U.S. official said the decision would push the Pentagon into line with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, which already have U.S. contractors in Ukraine.
The official added that no U.S. troops would be needed to protect contractors in Ukraine, and that issues such as security and risk mitigation would be the responsibility of those companies contracting with the Pentagon.
Some U.S. defense contractors have been sent to Ukraine in small numbers in the past, servicing weapons not supplied by the Pentagon, the official said.
Given that there is already a “wide range of U.S. companies” that have personnel in Ukraine performing contracts for the Ukrainian government, there will not be a significant increase in the number of U.S. employees working on the ground, the first official said.
The decision comes at a critical moment for the conflict. Russian troops are advancing at the fastest pace since Ukraine first repelled their invasion on the outskirts of Kiev in early 2022. Ukraine, for its part, has launched its first major incursion into russian territory.
Still, it's unclear how sustainable the policy change will be, given that the Biden administration has so little time left. President-elect Donald Trump has criticized the scale of U.S. military and financial support for Kiev and vowed to quickly end the war with Russia, without saying exactly how. Trump takes office on January 20.