By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States does not plan to send military trainers to Ukraine and will likely do so only when the war with Russia is over, the top U.S. general said on Monday, after France opened the door to sending troops to train kyiv’s troops. forces.
After more than two years of war, the Russians are slowly advancing into eastern Ukraine, exploiting a lack of Ukrainian labor and months of delays in arms deliveries from the West.
That has raised questions about what more the United States and its allies can do, beyond funneling billions of dollars in weapons and providing intelligence and training to Ukraine’s military forces from outside the country.
“At this time there are no plans to send American trainers to Ukraine,” General Charles Q. Brown, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.
“Once this conflict is over and we’re in a better situation, I guess we can bring the coaches back,” Brown added.
The United States had approximately 150 military trainers in Ukraine until Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
French President Emmanuel Macron in February opened the door to European countries sending troops to Ukraine.
Since then, other European leaders have publicly opposed the idea and Macron’s foreign minister has sought to clarify his comments, saying Paris could send troops to Ukraine for specific needs, but not to fight in the war against Russia.
French diplomats said Macron’s idea was to fuel debate on the issue, but there were no concrete plans to do so.
Brown spoke with the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after a meeting of Ukraine’s military supporters. He and Austin stressed the need to support kyiv in the face of growing pressure from Russian forces in Kharkiv.
The Pentagon has rejected a suggestion from former senior State Department official Victoria Nuland to ABC News that President Joe Biden should drop his ban on Ukraine using U.S. weapons to strike targets in Russia, which which, the White House feared, could lead to direct conflict with Moscow.
Brown said he believed Ukraine had not used U.S.-supplied military tactical missile systems on Russian territory.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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