On the menu today: President Biden appears to spill a major U.S. national-security secret — and contradict his own national-security adviser — by telling reporters that U.S. troops are training Ukrainian soldiers in Poland. Meanwhile, peace negotiators get poisoned and Russian tanks drive through the most radioactive areas near the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear-power plant, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust. Insert the Fred Thompson memes here.
Did the President Spill a National-Security Secret?
The headline on yesterday’s Jolt: “Biden’s Ad-Libbing Gets More Dangerous.” Apparently, the president took that as a dare.
President Joe Biden appeared to reveal that the U.S. is training Ukrainian forces in Poland — stating for the first time since the war began that American troops are actively teaching Ukrainians to fight and kill Russians.
That’s not what Biden said Monday. After delivering remarks about the White House’s new budget request, Biden answered a reporter’s question about comments he made when meeting the 82nd Airborne in Poland, in which he implied American forces would be going to Ukraine. Biden denied that’s what he meant, adding: “We’re talking about helping train the Ukrainian troops that are in Poland.”
Pressed again, Biden said, “I was referring to being with, and talking with, the Ukrainian troops that are in Poland.”
It’s possible Biden meant to say “American” when he said “Ukrainian” on the second instance, or he exaggerated the extent to which American soldiers advise the Ukrainian forces on how to use the security assistance the administration has provided.
It’s right there in the White House transcript. As the president would say, “Come on, man!”
The U.S. has trained Ukrainian troops for a long time, going all the way back to 1993. The U.S. Seventh Army Training Command oversaw the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine mission at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center, in Ukraine near the Polish border, until February. “Task Force Gator” — the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat team from the Florida Army National Guard — was the last group to train Ukrainian soldiers on Ukrainian soil. When the war appeared imminent, U.S. European Command moved Task Force Gator to Grafenwoehr, Germany. On March 13, the Russians bombed the Yavoriv Combat Training Center, killing 35 people.
The last Facebook post from the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine was February 9, about the formation of a recreational sports league among the troops stationed there.
The war has been going on for 33 days. In the entirety of that time, no one from the Pentagon, the U.S. State Department, the White House National Security Council, or any other federal-government agency has publicly mentioned U.S. training of Ukrainian troops on Polish soil. (This is separate from American volunteers, and private groups of American veterans going over into Ukraine and helping or training the Ukrainians.) When the war began, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told House lawmakers that “the Biden administration is considering ways to train Ukrainian forces remotely if the Russians seize control of Ukraine.”
In fact, six days ago, national-security adviser Jake Sullivan specifically denied that such training was taking place:
On the question of U.S. troops, we do not have U.S. troops currently training Ukrainians. We do not have U.S. troops on the territory of Ukraine. We do, of course, have U.S. troops defending NATO territory, providing reassurance to our Allies, deterring Russian aggression.
And, of course, the United States is playing a key role not just in the direct provision of military equipment to Ukraine but in the facilitation of military equipment provided by many of our Allies as well.
There is a good reason for the U.S. to either halt instructing Ukrainian soldiers once the war started or to want to keep it secret. The Russians have already sent strong signals indicating that they think NATO sending weapons to the Ukrainians makes the alliance a combatant; undoubtedly, Putin and the Russian military would interpret the Pentagon training Ukrainians to kill Russians during a shooting war as another strong argument to treat the U.S. as a belligerent in the conflict.
And Biden just blurts it out.