Stringer/Reuters/File
This March 2022 photo shows a U.S. Army surface-to-air missile (SAM) system launcher, a MIM-104 Patriot, at Rzeszow-Jasionka Airport in Poland.
CNN
—
The Biden administration is moving to lift a de facto ban on US military contractors sending to Ukraine to help the country’s military maintain and repair US-supplied weapons systems, four US officials familiar with the matter told CNN.
The change would mark another major shift in the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy as the United States seeks ways to give the Ukrainian military an edge over Russia.
The policy is still being reviewed by administration officials and has not yet received final approval from President Joe Biden, the officials said.
“We haven’t made any decisions and it’s premature to discuss this,” one administration official said. “The president remains adamant that he will not send U.S. troops to Ukraine.”
If approved, the changes, likely to take effect this year, would allow the Pentagon to award contracts to U.S. companies for work inside Ukraine for the first time since Russia invaded in 2022, officials said. They hope the changes will speed up maintenance and repairs for weapons systems used by the Ukrainian military.
Biden has spent the past two years insisting that all Americans, especially U.S. troops, stay away from the Ukrainian front line. The White House is determined to limit both the danger to Americans and the perception, especially by Russia, that U.S. troops are fighting in Ukraine. The State Department has explicitly warned Americans not to travel to Ukraine since 2022.
As a result, U.S.-supplied military equipment that is heavily damaged in battle must be shipped overseas to Poland, Romania, or other NATO nations for repairs, a process that takes time. U.S. military forces can also assist Ukraine with more routine maintenance and logistics, but this arrangement has inherent limitations because it can only be done remotely via video chat or secure telephone calls, and U.S. troops or contractors cannot work on the systems in person.
Administration officials began seriously reconsidering those restrictions over the past few months as Russia continued to gain ground on the battlefield and U.S. funding for Ukraine stalled in Congress, officials said. Allowing experienced U.S. contractors funded by the U.S. government to remain in Ukraine would allow them to help repair damaged, expensive equipment much more quickly, the officials said. One advanced system that will likely require regular maintenance is the F-16 fighter jets Ukraine is due to receive later this year.
Officials said companies bidding for the contract will need to develop strong risk mitigation plans to mitigate threats to employees.
The talks follow a series of decisions the U.S. has made in recent months to help Ukraine fight off Russia. In late May, President Biden gave Ukraine permission to use U.S. weapons to attack targets in Russia near the Ukrainian border with the city of Kharkiv, a request the U.S. has previously repeatedly rejected. Last week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan appeared to expand the policy again, saying Ukraine could use U.S. weapons to strike back anywhere along the Ukrainian-Russian border.
Current and former officials familiar with the discussions about sending contractors to Ukraine stressed that the policy change would not result in an overwhelming number of U.S. contractors being sent to Ukraine, as was seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, it would likely result in dozens or even hundreds of contractors working in Ukraine at one time.
“This would be a much more focused and thoughtful effort to provide support inside Ukraine,” said Alex Vindman, a retired Army officer who served as director for European affairs on former President Donald Trump’s National Security Council.
Vindman said he has been lobbying the administration to lift the restrictions for about two years and that the administration has been working on a plan to ease the restrictions since the beginning of the year.
“Ukraine is an ally,” Vindman told CNN. “The United States has a keen and significant national security interest in supporting Ukraine, and we have extensive risk mitigation capabilities.”
