US considers giving Ukraine battlefield intel in anti-Russia provocation

The US military is reportedly working on a scheme to provide Ukraine with battlefield intelligence in a purported bid to respond to perceived Russian offensive amid rising concerns in Moscow that the US-led NATO alliance is pushing for a major military build-up in Ukraine for possible confrontation with Russia.

The list of ideas being drawn up by the US Defense Department, the State Department and the White House “include redirecting helicopters and other military equipment once allocated for the Afghan military to Ukraine,” the New York Times reported Thursday citing senior administration officials.

The Biden administration is also considering sending “additional cyber warfare experts” to Ukraine, the daily further added, noting that the US and the UK have also dispatched “some experts to shore up defenses” in case Russian President Vladimir Putin launches what they allege as “a cyber strike on Ukraine either in advance or instead of a ground invasion.”

But the proposal at the Pentagon for “actionable” intelligence is potentially more significant, the report underlined, citing two US officials that spoke on condition of anonymity, claiming: “The information would include images of whether Russian troops were moving to cross the border. Such information, if shared in time, could enable the Ukrainian military to head off an attack.”

“We remember...how you promised us in the 1990s that [NATO] would not move an inch to the East,” said the Russian president. “You cheated us shamelessly: there have been five waves of NATO expansion, and now the weapons systems I mentioned have been deployed in Poland and deployment has recently begun in Poland…We are not threatening anyone.”

“Have we approached US borders? Or the borders of Britain or any other country?” he then asked. “It is you who have come to our border, and now you say that Ukraine will become a member of NATO as well. Or, even if it does not join NATO, that military bases and strike systems will be placed on its territory under bilateral agreements. This is the point.”

The US daily then went on to cite Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby as announcing earlier in the week that a small Pentagon team had recently visited Ukraine to evaluate Kiev’s air defense needs.

The US military has been supplying Ukraine with anti-tank guided missiles called Javelins since 2018. Biden then authorized an additional Javelin delivery this fall as part of a $60 million military aid package.

ME