The United States will send a small number of contractors to Ukraine to help it maintain and repair the U.S.-provided weapons and air defense systems it is using against Russia’s invasion, a defense official said Friday.

The official said the contractors “will be far from the front lines and they will not be fighting Russian forces.”

Ukraine needs the contractors to repair and maintain equipment, such as F-16s and Patriot air defense systems, that requires “specific technical expertise to maintain,” the official said.

The decision to send the contractors was made “after careful risk assessment,” the official said.

On Wednesday, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his election victory, Trump had Elon Musk join the call. The billionaire businessman was a contributor to Trump’s presidential campaign.

A Ukrainian official told The Associated Press that Zelenskyy thanked Musk for helping Ukraine gain access to the Starlink satellite internet platform. Other media outlets reported that Trump told Zelenskyy that he would support Ukraine, and that Musk said he would continue to supply Starlink.

Musk was on the phone for only part of the conversation.

Overnight attacks

Ukrainian officials said Friday morning that Russia attacked the regions of Odesa, Kharkiv and Kyiv overnight into Friday with drones, missiles and aerial bombs, damaging residential buildings and infrastructure and killing at least one person and injuring at least 25.

Regional officials in Kharkiv say a Russian guided aerial bomb struck a 12-story residential building in the early hours Friday. They said the bomb struck the first three floors. A search was underway for anyone trapped in the rubble.

In Odesa, police and emergency service officials told the French news agency Agence France-Presse that a Russian drone struck several residential buildings, sparking fires in some. They said a 46-year-old man was killed when his car was struck by shrapnel, and at least nine others were injured.

The Odesa officials reported shrapnel from the attacks also ruptured fuel lines, causing several fires.

On the social media platform X, President Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces shot down four missiles and about 60 drones launched by Russia against Ukraine overnight Thursday.

“Each time Russia attempts to destroy our lives, it is crucial to respond collectively and decisively at the international level to reduce and block the potential for terror,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Ukraine needs strength to achieve this. This is the only way to achieve a just peace and to ending the killing of our people,” he said.

He called for more air defenses, and long-range capabilities, weapons packages, and sanctions against Russia.

Zelenskyy took that message Thursday to the European Political Community Summit in Budapest, where he met with European leaders and reportedly reached new defense agreements to strengthen Ukrainian forces, along with agreements on positive steps toward reinforcing air defenses before winter.

But while most European leaders signaled continued support for Ukraine’s war effort, there were indications that Trump’s victory in the U.S. elections this week could change that picture.

In a radio interview Friday, the host of that summit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has close ties to both Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, said U.S. support for Ukraine will end with the election of Trump and that Europe needs to re-think its approach to the war.

“The Americans will quit this war,” Orban told Hungarian state radio and indicated he felt Europe must follow suit.

“Europe cannot finance this war alone, there are some who still want it, who still want to continue sending enormous amounts of money into this lost war, but the number of those who remain silent, though they were loud before, and those who cautiously voice that we should adjust to the new situation, is growing,” Orban said.

The Hungarian leader made the comments ahead of the European Union summit Friday in Budapest. Before that meeting, outgoing European Council President Charles Michel told reporters Europe wants to strengthen ties with the United States and continue strengthening Ukraine.

“We have to support Ukraine because if we do not support Ukraine, this is the wrong signal that we send to Putin but also to some other authoritarian regimes across the world,” Michel said.

Trump has criticized the level of U.S. support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, and before the election he promised to end the conflict before even taking office, without explaining how.

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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