President Trump’s long-delayed decision to provide Ukraine with defensive lethal weapons signaled a new willingness to oppose Russian intervention in its neighbor, but has made European allies nervous that a recent hike in fighting could escalate.
The State Department said Friday that the administration would supply the government in Kiev with Javelin anti-tank missiles to destroy armored vehicles used by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, and to raise the cost of Russia’s intervention in the conflict.
The Trump administration said earlier in the week that it also would permit sales of some small arms to Ukraine from U.S. manufacturers.
Ukraine long had sought the portable infrared-guided Javelins to blunt the insurgents’ advances. But some U.S. officials worried that providing the weapons could provoke the Kremlin to step up its military role and ruin any chance of easing tensions with Moscow.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-fg-us-ukraine-20171226-story,amp.html
