US weighing new step to bolster Ukraine
The Pentagon and American intelligence agencies have proposed the White House provide key intelligence to the Ukrainian government that would enable it to target specific locations of surface-to-air missiles allegedly controlled by pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine, a report says.
The proposal has not yet been debated in the Obama administration, a senior American official said, as reported by the New York Times.
Washington has already approved limited intelligence sharing with Kyiv but, the report said, the new step would involve the United States more deeply in the conflict which has already drawn the US and Russia into a tense dispute.
The US claims pro-Russian protesters’ missiles have taken down at least five aircraft in the past 10 days. The fighters rejected the allegations.
Washington also linked the recent downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to the anti-Kyiv protesters.
Since the incident, the Obama administration, which is already sharing with the Ukrainians satellite photographs and other evidence of the movement of protesters along the Ukrainian-Russian border, has tried to further bolster the pro-Western government in Ukraine against Russia.
“We’ve been cautious to date about things that could directly hit Russia — principally its territory,” but also its equipment, an American official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told the Times.
A proposal to give the Ukrainians real-time information “hasn’t gotten to the president yet,” the official said, in part because the White House has been focused on rallying support among European allies for more stringent economic sanctions against Moscow, and on gaining access for investigators to the Malaysia Airlines crash site.
But the official added that the decision on whether to provide targeting information would soon become “part of the intel mix.”
According to the Times, the debate over providing information about potential military targets gives the first insight into the Obama administration’s thinking on long-term strategies to boost Ukraine and counter Russia.
ARA/ARA