August 21, 2017 (Military.com) Defense
Secretary Jim Mattis is set to travel to Ukraine, becoming the first U.S.
defense secretary to visit the country since Robert Gates, the Pentagon
announced Friday. Mattis will meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak on Aug. 24, Ukraine's independence
day. "During these engagements, the secretary will reassure our Ukrainian
partners that the U.S. remains firmly committed to the goal of restoring
Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as strengthening the
strategic defense partnership between our two countries," the Defense
Department said.
Mattis' trip comes as the United
States is mulling giving Ukraine lethal weapons after Russia's annexation of
Crimea in 2014 and its ongoing incursion into Ukraine's eastern border regions.
The U.S. has given Ukraine's military non-lethal supplies, including
night-vision goggles, uniforms and surveillance equipment such as Raven RQ-11BAnalog
mini-drones. But U.S. officials worry -- with seemingly endless breakouts of
hostilities between pro-Russian separatists and Ukraine's national guard --
that the conflict will prolong without expanded support. Senate Armed Services
Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, an avid supporter of arming Ukraine since
then-President Barack Obama cautioned against lethal weapons, has raised the
issue repeatedly with defense officials.
During Deputy Defense Secretary
Patrick Shanahan's confirmation hearing in June, McCain was unhappy with the
incoming deputy's answers about providing arms to Ukraine. "It's still
disturbing to me after all these years that you would say that you have to look
at the issue," the senator said. "Have you not been aware of the
issue? Have you not been aware of the actions of the Senate Armed Services
Committee? Have you not been aware of the thousands of people that have been
killed by Vladimir Putin? Have you missed all that in your duties at one of the
major defense corporations in this country?" Mattis will also travel to
Turkey and Jordan next week, meeting with his counterparts to discuss the ongoing
air war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The full article is available at http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/08/18/mattis-visit-ukraine-russian-resurgence.html
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