CNN: US plans to send American contractors to Ukraine to speed up weapons repairs

The Biden administration is moving to lift restrictions on U.S. military contractors deployed to Ukraine in order to speed up the process of repairing U.S.-supplied weapons, according to CNN.

Currently, damaged equipment must be transported out of Ukraine to NATO countries like Poland and Romania for repairs, which takes longer.

Four officials familiar with the matter told CNN that allowing U.S. government-funded contractors into Ukraine would allow for faster repairs of high-value equipment, such as the F-16 fighter jets that Ukraine is expected to receive later This year.

One official stressed that President Biden remains adamant about not sending U.S. troops to Ukraine, in part to avoid giving the impression that the U.S. military is involved in the war, as Russia claims.

The United States has begun to seriously reconsider these restrictions in recent months due to Russia's continued gains on the battlefield, a new offensive toward Kharkiv, and the blocking of U.S. funding for Ukraine in Congress.

According to CNN, the decision, which has not yet received final approval from President Joe Biden, marks a significant shift in the Ukrainian administration's policy, which seeks to strengthen Ukraine's military advantage against Russia .

If approved, the change would likely take effect this year, allowing the Pentagon to provide contracts to U.S. companies for work in Ukraine for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Current and former officials familiar with the discussions stressed to CNN that the policy change would not result in a large-scale U.S. contractor presence like those seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, but rather a targeted effort involving dozens to a few hundreds of entrepreneurs at a time.

In late May, the Biden administration authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike targets in Russia near the Kharkiv border and later expanded that authorization to include counterattacks. anywhere along the Ukraine-Russia border, which helped reduce the intensity of Russian bombing. on Ukrainian civilians.

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