Pentagon officials said Friday that the US will send American contractors to Ukraine to help repair US-made weapons, marking another escalation of US involvement in the proxy war.
“In order to help Ukraine repair and maintain military equipment provided by the US and its allies, DoD is soliciting bids for a small number of contractors who will help Ukraine maintain the assistance we’ve already provided,” a Pentagon official told CNN on Friday.
The report said the decision to send contractors was made before the US presidential election. The contractors are expected to focus on the maintenance of US-made F-16 fighter jets, Patriot air defense systems, and other advanced equipment.
The official speaking to CNN said the contractors will “be located far from the front lines, and they will not be fighting Russian forces.”
The official also downplayed the idea that the sending of Pentagon contractors will significantly change things on the ground, saying there is already “a wide array of American companies who have personnel in Ukraine fulfilling contracts for the Ukrainian government, so this will not lead to a substantial increase of employees of US companies working on the ground in Ukraine.”
The US has a few dozen Pentagon personnel based at the US Embassy in Kyiv and a small number of special operations forces in the country (14 as of March 2023). There are also an unknown number of CIA operatives on the ground as the spy agency has been deeply enmeshed with Ukrainian intelligence since 2014.
