In response to increasing Russian missile and drone attacks, The Pentagon is sending more than 500 interceptors to Ukraine for the Patriot missile defense system and the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, which are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, according to a senior administration official quoted from the Wall Street Journal. The election outcome has triggered a final sprint for supplies to Ukraine before Donald Trump takes office in the White House. Those shipments are expected to meet Ukraine’s air defense needs for the rest of the year, according to a U.S. official.
The administration said yesterday it would send “a small number of contractors” to help Ukraine repair and maintain F-16s and other systems, the Pentagon official said. Contractors will arrive in the coming months and will work far from the front lines. As recently as August, the Biden administration rejected this initiative, but since then more and more systems have become inoperable due to a lack of qualified personnel to repair or maintain them. “Ensuring that these weapons systems remain capable of carrying out their mission is critical to the defense of Ukraine from Russian aggression,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The matter is different for the ATACMS missiles, with a range of over 300 kilometers, which would allow attacks to be carried out well behind the Russian front lines. The Pentagon has been reluctant to send more ATACMS, arguing that Russia has moved planes and other valuable targets out of range. The Biden administration has refused to allow Ukrainian forces to use missiles to strike Russia itself.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejected a recent request from President Volodymyr Zelensky to prioritize delivery of the Ukrainian ATACMS over other buyers, according to two U.S. officials and a Ukrainian government adviser. Breaking long-standing agreements with other clients would be “asking too much,” Austin told Zelensky, according to one of the officials.