2024-08-31T13:20:00+03:00 Politics 2024-09-24T04:00:02+03:00

Ukrainian news

White House refuses to send contractors to Ukraine to service F-16s – media

White House refuses to send contractors to Ukraine to service F-16s – media

Joe Biden's Administration has reportedly rejected a proposal to send American contractors to Ukraine to maintain Western military equipment, including F-16 fighter jets, over security concerns.

This is stated in the article of The Wall Street Journal with reference to interlocutors.

According to the WSJ, the United States National Security Council has considered a proposal to send civilian contractors to Ukraine to maintain F-16 fighter jets and other military weapons, but intelligence and other agencies have so far deemed such a move too risky.

At the same time, the American side hopes that European countries will "take on more – and perhaps all – of the responsibility for maintaining the F-16s" in Ukraine, the article says.

"The intelligence community raised concerns over the prospect of Russia targeting American contractors in Ukraine," a U.S. official told the WSJ on the condition of anonymity.

The Biden Administration previously did not rule out sending American contractors to Ukraine in the future, but does not expect them to go there in the near future, the journalists add.

The refusal to send personnel to maintain the F-16s became known after Ukraine lost the first fighter, which it received a few weeks ago from the Western allies.