US allows contractors to fix Pentagon-supplied weapons in Ukraine, in major shift

In its final months, US President Joe Biden’s administration has decided to allow American defence contractors to work in Ukraine to maintain and repair Pentagon-provided weaponry, US officials said 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 videoconferencing 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 aircraft and Patriot air defences, officials say.

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