The U.S. Department of Defense plans to create a separate unit that will deal with the issue of military aid to Ukraine and military training. The Pentagon will improve the system, which was created on the fly after February 24.
The American newspaper The New York Times writes about it with reference to its own sources.
The changes are intended to give formal structure to what has been improvised since the beginning of the war. The system will be placed under a single new command based in Germany, headed by a high-ranking American general — presumably Christopher Cavoli. The final decision will be made in the coming weeks.
The new command will implement decisions made by the Defense Contact Group of Ukraine, a 40-nation coalition created after the Russian invasion to meet Ukraineʼs needs and requests. The command will oversee formal instructions at test sites in Germany and at technical support centers in neighboring countries. For example, a military repair team of 50 people at a base in Poland provides technical assistance to Ukrainian soldiers in repairing damaged American weapons.
"It will also create a formal security structure that our allies and partners can follow in terms of transferring their equipment and training Ukrainians," explained Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, who led the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, has spent the past few months behind the scenes coordinating much of the U.S. military aid to Ukraine, helping to direct training and liaising with Ukrainian generals about their needs on the battlefield.
- On September 28, the U.S. announced a new $1.1 billion aid package, which should include 18 HIMARS systems and anti-drone systems.