The United States has lifted a de facto ban on the deployment of American military contractors in Ukraine to service and repair the weapons systems provided, in particular, F-16 fighters and Patriot air defense systems.
CNN reports this, citing an official directly familiar with the plan.
US military contractors in Ukraine
The Pentagon has lifted a de facto ban on the deployment of American military contractors in Ukraine for the first time since Russia's invasion of 2022 will be able to provide contracts to American companies to work in Ukraine, a representative of the US Department of Defense said.
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—To help Ukraine repair and maintain military equipment provided by the United States and allies, the U.S. Department of Defense is soliciting bids for a small number of contractors that will help Ukraine maintain the assistance it has already provided, — he said.
According to the publication's report, the American contractors will allegedly be located far from the front lines and will not fight with Russian soldiers.
However, they will help soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine quickly repair and service the equipment provided by the United States if necessary, so that it can be quickly returned to the front lines.
A Pentagon representative told reporters that the United States is moving forward to implement this plan.
According to him, several systems that the United States provided to Ukraine, in particular the F-16 aircraft and Patriot air defense systems, require special technical expertise to maintenance.
Previously transferred to the US military equipment that suffered significant damage during combat allegedly had to be transported from Ukraine to Poland, Romania or other NATO countries for further repair.
According to sources, including current and former officials, the change in policy will allegedly not lead to a large presence of American contractors, which existed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Probably, from several dozen to several hundred contractors will work in Ukraine at the same time, the publication claims.
A Pentagon representative noted that there is already a wide range of American companies in Ukraine that carry out contracts for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so this will not lead to a significant increase in the number of such employees.
