In its final months, President Joe Biden’s administration has decided to allow US defense contractors to work in Ukraine to maintain and repair Pentagon-provided weaponry, US officials told Reuters on Friday, in a significant policy shift that aims to aid Kyiv’s fight against Russia.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the contractors would be small in number and located far from the front lines. They will not be engaged in combat.

They will help ensure US-provided equipment “can be rapidly repaired when damaged and be provided maintenance as needed,” the official said.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the United States has given Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in weaponry. But Kyiv either had to move US-provided weaponry out of the country for heavy repair or rely on video-conferencing and other creative solutions to fix those systems inside the country.

The restrictions in the past have sometimes slowed down repairs and proven increasingly difficult as the US has provided Kyiv with more complicated systems, like F-16 fighter jets and Patriot air defenses, officials say.

A lot of equipment in the country is not being used because it is damaged, a second US official told Reuters.

The move is the latest easing of restrictions by Biden’s administration, which has sought to help Ukraine defend itself against Moscow’s 2 1/2 year-old invasion without becoming directly engaged against nuclear-armed Russia.

A third US official said the decision would move the Pentagon in line with the US State Department and US Agency for International Development, which already have US contractors in Ukraine.

The official added that no US troops would be required to defend contractors in Ukraine, and that issues like safety and risk mitigation would be the responsibility of those companies entering into contracts with the Pentagon.

Some US defense contractors have already gone to Ukraine in small numbers in the past, servicing weapons that weren’t being provided by the Pentagon, the official said.

Given there are already are a “wide array of American companies” who have personnel in Ukraine fulfilling contracts for the Ukrainian government, there would not be a substantial increase in US company employees working on the ground, the first official said.

The decision comes at a critical time for the conflict. Russian forces are advancing at their fastest rate since Ukraine first repulsed their invasion at the outskirts of Kyiv in early 2022. Ukraine, for its part, has launched its first major incursion into Russian territory.

Still, it’s unclear how sustainable the policy shift will be with so little time left in Biden’s administration. President-elect Donald Trump has criticized the scale of US military and financial support for Kyiv and vowed to end the war with Russia quickly, without saying how. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

As the biggest contributor by far to Kyiv’s war effort, US support has been essential to Ukraine’s survival against a much larger and better equipped Russian enemy.

Moscow’s forces occupy around a fifth of Ukraine, and it is increasing pressure on Kyiv, which is facing problems fielding a strong enough fighting force to stand up to Russia’s steady onslaught – bolstered recently by the addition of North Korean troops.

Ukraine has called on the West to lift restrictions on using missiles to attack deep into Russia, which Kyiv says is necessary to disrupt long-range Russian attacks.

But Biden’s administration has not announced any changes to that policy, which officials say might not be sufficient to change the tide in the war, and which Moscow says would escalate the conflict.

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Ukraine:

US President Joe Biden announced a $425 million arms package for Kyiv Wednesday in a call with President Volodymyr Zelensky, ahead of a farewell visit to Berlin to discuss Ukraine, the White House said.

The package includes air defense and armored vehicles, said a readout of the call, adding that President Biden had briefed Mr Zelensky “on his efforts to surge security assistance to Ukraine over the remainder of his term in office.”

Mr Biden would also hold a virtual meeting of Ukraine’s allies in November, it added, as he tries to shore up international support for Kyiv before a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House in January 2025.

There was no mention, however, of any decision on whether to allow Ukraine to fire Western-made long-range missiles deep into Russia, a move Biden has been reluctant to green-light so far.

The $425 million US package includes “additional air defense capability, air-to-ground munitions, armored vehicles, and critical munitions to meet Ukraine’s urgent needs,” the White House said.

The United States would in coming months provide hundreds of air defense missiles, artillery, hundreds of armored personnel carriers and thousands of additional armored vehicles, it added.

Mr Zelensky meanwhile “updated President Biden on his plan to achieve victory over Russia, and the two leaders tasked their teams to engage in further consultations on next steps.”

Mr Zelensky said on X that he had spoken with Biden and thanked him for the package, which included “long range weapons.”

“I am grateful to President Biden, both parties in Congress, and the American people for the $425 million defense package announced today,” said Ukraine President, who is due to meet EU leaders on Thursday.

The United States has provided around $175 billion in both military and economic assistance to Ukraine during the war, despite frequent opposition from Republicans.

The call came on the eve of Mr Biden’s whirlwind trip to Germany, where Ukraine will be high on the agenda.

Mr Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz could be joined for talks by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, media reports said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

President Joe Biden speaks before signing a $95 billion Ukraine aid package that also includes support for Israel, Taiwan, and other allies, in the State Dining Room of the White House on April 24, 2024, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to send fresh weapons to Ukraine within days as he prepared to sign on April 24 an aid package including $61 billion meant to help Kyiv’s forces push back against Russia.

Congress approved on Tuesday the long-delayed legislation, which also contained a measure to ban TikTok in the United States if the popular social media app does not cut ties with its Chinese parent company.

Days after the Republican-led House of Representatives cleared the aid — part of a larger $95 billion package of assistance to allies including Israel and Taiwan — the Democratic-controlled Senate followed suit, passing it with bipartisan support on a 79-18 vote.

“I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week,” Mr. Biden said in a statement shortly after the vote.

Also Read | Pentagon to give Ukraine $300 million in weapons even as it lacks funds to replenish U.S. stockpile

Passage of the bill, which also provides much-needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Sudan and Haiti, comes after months of acrimonious debate among lawmakers over how or even whether to help Ukraine defend itself.

A similar aid package passed the Senate in February, but had been stalled in the House while Republican Speaker Mike Johnson — heeding calls from ex-president Donald Trump and his hardline allies — demanded concessions from Mr. Biden on immigration policies, before a sudden reversal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Washington in December to plead for fresh aid, quickly thanked U.S. lawmakers for passing the bill, saying on social media that he looked “forward to the bill being signed soon and the next military aid package matching the resoluteness that I always see in our negotiations.”

“Ukraine’s long-range capabilities, artillery, and air defense are critical tools for restoring just peace sooner,” Zelensky added.

Mr. Biden said the bill’s approval showed the United States stood “resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression,” while the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, said it sent a message that the United States “will not turn our back on you.”

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the U.S. aid would make little difference on the front line.

“All the new batches of weapons are already surely ready and will not change the dynamics on the front,” Mr. Peskov told reporters.

The United States has been the chief military backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia, but Congress had not approved large-scale funding for its ally for nearly a year and a half.

The financing of the war has become a point of contention ahead of a presidential election in November that is expected to pit Mr. Biden against Mr. Trump once again.

Aid ‘within days’

A Pentagon spokesperson told reporters Tuesday it could deliver fresh aid to Ukraine “within days.”

Ukraine’s military is facing a severe shortage of weapons and recruits as Moscow exerts constant pressure from the east.

Frontline circumstances are expected to worsen in the coming weeks, with Ukrainian intelligence head Kyrylo Budanov predicting a “rather difficult situation” beginning in mid-May.

The debate over Ukraine assistance has highlighted wide divisions between Democrats and Republicans in Congress — but it has also revealed deep fissures within the conservative movement ahead of the November elections.

While some hardline Republicans have been wary of sending funds overseas, Mr. Biden and the Democrats frame Ukraine aid as an investment in U.S. security against Russian aggression.

The Ukraine bill also allows Washington to confiscate and sell Russian assets and provide the money to Kyiv to finance reconstruction, a move that has been embraced by other G7 nations.

Kyiv has stepped up aerial attacks on Russian energy facilities over recent weeks in the hopes of crippling Moscow’s ability to attack Ukrainian cities or gain more ground in the industrial east.

Ukrainian drones attacked oil facilities in western Russia overnight, defence sources in Kyiv confirmed Wednesday, in the latest aerial assault by Kyiv aiming to dent Russian military logistics.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday that US House of Representatives’ approval of security aid to Ukraine would lead to more damage and deaths in the conflict there.

The decision “will make the United States of America richer, further ruin Ukraine and result in the deaths of even more Ukrainians, the fault of the Kyiv regime,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The Kremlin has been locked in conflict in Ukraine since invading it more than two years ago.

The House approved a legislative package providing $60.84 billion to Ukraine, including $23 billion to replenish US weapons, stocks and facilities.

The package now goes to the US Senate, which passed a similar measure two months ago, for expected approval next week. It then is passed on to President Joe Biden to sign.

Peskov also said that provisions in the legislation allowing the US administration to confiscate seized Russian assets and transfer them to Ukraine to fund reconstruction would tarnish the image of the United States.

Russia, he said, would enact retaliatory measures.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the approval of US aid for Ukraine was expected and grounded in “Russophobia”.

“We will, of course, be victorious regardless of the bloodsoaked $61 billion, which will mostly be swallowed up by their insatiable military industrial complex,” wrote Medvedev, one of Russia’s most vociferous hawks as deputy chairman of the Security Council.

Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said the approval of aid in the legislation to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan would “deepen crises throughout the world”.

“Military assistance to the Kyiv regime is direct sponsorship of terrorist activity,” Zakharova wrote on Telegram.

“To Taiwan, it is interference in China’s internal affairs. To Israel, it is a road straight to escalation and an unprecedented rise in tension in the region.”

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Washington:

The United States on Thursday announced a new $150 million military assistance package for Ukraine that includes artillery and small-arms ammunition as well as anti-tank weapons.

Washington is by far Kyiv’s biggest donor of security aid, committing $43.9 billion since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

But opposition from hardline Republican lawmakers has put future assistance for Kyiv in doubt, and the US government is now relying on previously approved aid in the absence of new funding from Congress.

The latest package “utilizes assistance previously authorized for Ukraine during prior fiscal years,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The Biden administration calls on Congress to meet its commitment to the people of Ukraine by passing additional funding to ensure Ukraine continues to have what it needs to defend itself against Russia’s brutal war of choice,” the statement said.

The package also includes air defense missiles, night vision devices, demolitions munitions and cold weather gear.

US officials have spearheaded the push for international support for Ukraine, quickly forging a coalition to back Kyiv after Russia invaded and coordinating aid from dozens of countries.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)