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American troops serving in Ukraine will now be eligible for Imminent Hazard pay (IDP), a particular allowance to members in areas the place there’s a danger of bodily hurt.
Grier Martin, who’s briefly filling the position of the Pentagon’s high personnel official, introduced that troops in Ukraine can be eligible for the allowance in a memo earlier this month, in response to a report from the Army Occasions. The pay will probably be retroactive to April 2022, aligning with when the State Division started providing hazard pay to its staff in Ukraine.
Troops serving in Ukraine had been already eligible to obtain a $150-per-month hardship obligation allowance for serving in Ukraine, which will probably be diminished to $100 per thirty days when mixed with the brand new pay. Collectively, the 2 allowances will give troops serving in Ukraine an extra $325 per thirty days.
In line with the Pentagon, solely a small variety of U.S. troops are at present serving in Ukraine and are based mostly out of the American Embassy in Kyiv. The troops are chargeable for embassy safety and accounting work associated to the army tools the U.S. has despatched to help Ukrainian forces for the reason that Russian invasion final 12 months.
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![US Embassy in Kyiv](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/04/640/320/US-Embassy-Kyiv-Ukraine.png?ve=1&tl=1)
This view reveals the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, in Might 2022. (Anatolii Siryk/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing through Getty Photographs)
“IDP space designations usually embody specified land areas and the ‘airspace above’ as a typical observe,” a protection official instructed Fox Information Digital.
“That is the case for Ukraine, the place there are at present army members serving in at our embassy in Kyiv,” the official continued. “IDP is paid to members of the armed forces who serve in designated areas the place they [are] topic to the specter of bodily hurt on the premise of hostile fireplace, explosion of hostile mines, civilian rebel, civil warfare or terrorism”
Qualifying service members are paid on the price of $7.50 per day however to not exceed $225 per thirty days, in response to the official.
The protection official additionally mentioned that U.S. army personnel within the nation had been solely assigned to embassy operations in Kyiv, performing duties in accordance with U.S. embassy operations all through the world.
Rebekah Koffler, an creator and former DIA intelligence officer, instructed Fox Information Digital that whereas U.S. forces serving in Ukraine deserve the extra profit, there’s a hazard in how the transfer might be interpreted by Russia.
“For Moscow, that is merely one other signpost, together with many others, that the U.S. is ready to go to warfare with Russia over Ukraine,” Koffler mentioned.
Koffler mentioned many Russian newspapers, a number of of that are state owned, have picked up the story that U.S. troops in Ukraine will now obtain the allowance, an instance that the “Russians observe each transfer the Biden administration takes with regard to the Russia-Ukraine battle and interprets it inside the prism of its anticipated consequence.”
“Russian intelligence providers made an evaluation {that a} warfare between Russia and the U.S. was ‘inevitable’ due to what Moscow perceives as Washington’s and NATO’s encroachment in its strategic safety perimeter, of which Ukraine is a part of,” Koffler added.
![Russia drone](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2022/10/640/320/2022-10-19T154547Z_324485035_RC2W2X9XZPBX_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-EU-IRAN.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Cops shoot at a drone throughout a Russian air strike in Kyiv, Ukraine. (REUTERS/Vadim Sarakhan/File Photograph)
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The transfer additionally comes after an ABC Information report in April revealed {that a} small workforce of U.S. particular operations forces was understanding of the embassy in Kyiv, The Pentagon mentioned the elite troops weren’t combating on the battlefield and had been as a substitute getting used as safety for high-level guests and serving to Ukrainian forces with intelligence operations.
A former U.S. official instructed ABC Information the particular operations forces have helped plan operations which have led to “a whole bunch, if not 1000’s, of Russian army casualties” since arriving shortly after the Russian invasion.
Koffler additionally famous a latest authorization for the U.S. to name up an extra 3,000 reserve forces to enhance operations in Europe, warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin may view all the things collectively as an indication of U.S. escalation.
“Right here’s what Putin sees from the place he sits: The U.S. has dramatically elevated the scope and scale of army {hardware} supplied to Ukraine for the reason that starting of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Koffler mentioned. “Final 12 months, the Pentagon elevated U.S. troop presence in Europe by 20,000 troops, bringing the whole U.S. pressure in Europe to greater than 100,000. Ukraine is more and more prepared to launch drone assaults into Russia correct, together with [the] Moscow area, Rostov and on Crimea. Ukraine’s president, [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, a couple of days in the past introduced that warfare is coming to Russia.”
![Russian President Vladimir Putin](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/06/640/320/russian-president-vladimir-putin-meeting.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Russian President Vladimir Putin (GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/SPUTNIK/AFP through Getty Photographs)
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Koffler mentioned Putin might imagine it’s only “a matter of time” earlier than U.S. forces change into straight concerned on the battlefield in Ukraine, warning that the Russian chief may strike first if he sees the escalation as inevitable.
“Russia has a preempting doctrine, which incorporates nuclear strikes within the fight zone. Putin is not going to sit and wait to search out out what the U.S. does. He already made his conclusions based mostly on forecasts made by his intelligence providers,” Koffler mentioned. “Moscow and Washington are at present, firmly on an escalation path on to a kinetic conflict with Russia.”
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