Small US military presence on the ground confirmed in Ukraine
A Pentagon official told reporters on Monday that US military personnel have recently begun onsite inspections of US-provided weapons inside Ukraine, confirming a small US military presence on the ground.
“US personnel have recently resumed onsite inspections to assess weapon stocks in country whenever and wherever the security conditions allow,” the Pentagon official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The official said that the return of a “defense attaché and Office of Defense Cooperation personnel” to Ukraine has enabled the inspections. Both the defense attaché and Office of Defense Cooperation personnel are based at the US embassy in Kyiv.
Defense attachés are military officers stationed at US embassies that represent the Pentagon’s interests in the country. The Ukrainian government had previously said that defense attaché Brig. Gen. Garrick M. Harmon arrived in the country back in August.
