During the presidency of Barack Obama, the U.S.-based program provided advanced military training to elite Ukrainian military and special operations units.
This effort was later augmented by then-President Donald Trump. And has also increased in size during the Biden administration, according to former officials.
Since Russia’s 2014 military incursion in Crimea, the U.S. and Ukraine have increased joint intelligence sharing regarding Russia’s military activities. And Russian movements within the region are being tracked according to former U.S. intelligence officials.
US advisers were on the frontlines in Ukraine for years. The operation is part of a secret program that began in 2015 and has sent agency advisors of the paramilitaries into eastern Ukraine. The advisors were recently evacuated by the Pentagon.
The Ukrainian military expects an attack in the Luhansk region. And anticipate that the Russian military will seek to occupy the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
The Ukrainian government is still in charge in Mariupol. But it has already come under attack.
