World
Pentagon lifts ban on US contractors repairing weapons in Ukraine
NATO, U.S. warn North Korea against sending troops to help Russia
The head of NATO on Tuesday warned that the transfer of North Korean troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine would be a significant escalation.
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon will allow contactors to repair military equipment inside Ukraine for the first time, putting what a Defense official termed “a small number” of personnel inside the country at war with Russia.
The contractors will be far from the front lines and will not be fighting Russian forces, according to the official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The news was first reported by Reuters.
The contractors will work on sophisticated weapons systems such as F-16 warplanes and Patriot anti-missile systems, the officials said. Those weapons require technical expertise to maintain, and having contractors nearby will allow then to return quickly to the front lines.
The official noted that some American companies have personnel in Ukraine as well as U.S. government contractors working for the State Department.
It comes as Donald Trump’s election to another term on Tuesday has stirred worry in Washington that he would drastically cut or eliminate military aid to Ukraine in a second term.
Trump has said he would end the Ukraine war “in a day” without elaborating how he would end it. Trump blames Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the war, telling his supporters at an October rally that “we continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal.”
He maintains a friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who called to congratulate him on his election victory on Friday.
Zelenskyy said he had an “excellent call” with Trump on Wednesday. “We agreed to maintain close dialogue and advance our cooperation,” Zelenskyy said in a post to X.
The Pentagon still has around $4 billion from presidential drawdown packages and more than $2 billion left in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in aid to distribute to Ukraine’s military. Weapons packages will continue to roll out on an “almost weekly basis” through the last days of the President Biden’s administration, Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said at a news conference on Thursday.
The U.S. authorized another $425 million weapons package for the Ukrainian military last Friday. The package includes Stinger and Javelin missiles, drones, and a wide variety of ammunition, according to the State Department. Since the war began in Feb. of 2022 through last June 30, Congress appropriated more than $174.2 billion for the war-ravaged country, according to the U.S. government.
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