(RoyalPatriot.com )- General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday that plans to send American soldiers back into Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, are being evaluated for the security of the US Embassy.
Milley told reporters, apparently alluding to a Wall Street Journal story, that some of the things that may have been out there in public are planning initiatives at a modest level.
The May 23 report discussed White House officials’ diplomatic balancing act of sending in soldiers to protect the newly reopened embassy during times of war, jeopardizing human safety on the one hand while avoiding escalating the situation on the other.
The US Embassy in Moscow was closed ten days before the Russian invasion and returned on May 19 after a three-month hiatus. For the first two months of the conflict, embassy personnel was stationed outside of Poland, but Charge d’Affaires Kristina Kvien returned on May 2.
After Russian forces focused their onslaught on its eastern regions, other nations such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany reopened embassies.
If the military is called in, special troops will be to protect and secure the embassy, which is within Russian missile range. President Joe Biden had previously stated that no US troops would be sent to Ukraine.
Milley stated that the recommendations to send in soldiers had not yet made it to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin or himself for refining courses of action and what’s needed. Any deployment of US soldiers would need to be approved by the president.
“Anything like that is a long way off. We’re still working on plans, and none of them have been offered to the secretary,” Milley explained.
On May 18, the Biden administration reopened the US Embassy in Kyiv, which had been closed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Russian forces continue to strike Kyiv regularly. According to Ukrainian troops, two Russian missiles impacted the city’s central Shevchenko neighborhood and the lower levels of a 25-story residential structure on April 28, injuring at least ten people.
The strikes occurred during the UN Secretary General’s visit to Ukraine.
Some worry that increasing army presence may prompt Russian forces to strike the city again, putting diplomatic staff members in danger. Currently, embassy staff is protected by State Department, and diplomatic security officials.
The Senate has approved Bridget Brink as the new US ambassador to Ukraine.
