Local agents could be hired and supervised by the US Special Operations military, the newspaper reported
The US Department of Defense is trying to convince lawmakers to fund two top secret programs in Ukraine, which were stalled after Russia launched a military campaign in the country last year, the Washington Post reports. on Friday.
If the Pentagon does it its way, operations involving US Special Forces could resume into 2024, the newspaper claimed.
The Post, citing unnamed current and former US officials, alleged that the plans in question would allow US commandos to use Ukrainian agents to “observing Russian military activities and combating disinformation.”
It indicates the program is considered a form “irregular war” designed for use against adversaries with which Washington is not involved in a military conflict.
While the Pentagon has begun preparing documents for the resumption of these operations, Congress is unlikely to make a decision on the matter before the fall of 2023, the newspaper reported.
The article also notes that there is still a big question mark as to whether the Biden administration will allow US commandos to actually re-establish a physical presence in Ukraine to monitor the agents’ activities. .
According to the Post, US special operations forces may eventually have to monitor operations from a neighboring country – a practice they are said to have become familiar with in recent years.
However, it is not known whether lawmakers will give the programs the green light as some critics remain skeptical, the article asserts. Some of these are said to be concerned that such operations could risk drawing the US deeper into the conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
“What starts out as a scouting mission can quickly turn into combat as the substitutes start getting shot,” an official told reporters on condition of anonymity. They went on to add that it wasn’t clear “how [defense] The department is going to change the minds of people in Congress about that.”
Representatives from the Senate and House Armed Services committees, as well as the White House and Pentagon, declined to comment, citing the classified status of the programs, the Post reported.
Since the beginning of the military conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Washington has pledged to support Kiev with weapons, money and other forms of assistance. “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia strategically. Meanwhile, Moscow calls the conflict a proxy war waged by Washington and its allies to maintain Western dominance.
