US lifts ban on military contractors being sent to Ukraine – media

The administration of US President Joe Biden has overturned a ban on US military contractors working in Ukraine to maintain and repair equipment given to Ukraine's Armed Forces. Source: an anonymous US official in a comment to Reuters and CNN, as reported by European Pravda Details: The White House made a decision on contractor activity in Ukraine in early November, prior to the US presidential election.

It will enable the Pentagon to give contracts to American corporations to operate in Ukraine for the first time since Russia's full-scale invasion began in 2022.

According to Reuters, the Biden administration intends to speed up the maintenance and repair of Ukrainian weapons systems. CNN clarifies that the US contractors will service F-16 aircraft and Patriot air defence systems. The channel's sources anticipate that there will be several dozen to several hundred American contractors in Ukraine, and that they will be stationed in areas away from the contact line for security purposes.

Until now, American contractors have been unable to come to Ukraine for fear of putting US citizens in danger, and equipment in need of repair was therefore transported to neighbouring countries such as Poland or Romania.

It is worth noting that the easing of the restriction on US Pentagon contractors working in Ukraine was announced in the summer of 2024, but the concept was ultimately abandoned.

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