U.S. soldiers salute during a ceremony at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine, in December 2021, about two months before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. American service members in Ukraine can now earn up to $325 more per month, according to new Pentagon guidance. (Spencer Rhodes/U.S. Army)
U.S. troops serving in Ukraine are eligible to earn more than $200 per month in extra hazard pay under a new Pentagon authorization.
Ukraine was approved earlier this month as an imminent danger pay area, a designation that often includes not just the specified territory but also the airspace above it, a defense official said in a statement Friday.
“This is the case for Ukraine, where there are currently military members serving in at our embassy in Kyiv,” the official said.
A Pentagon memo signed July 13 that announced the change first was posted Thursday on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page.
Imminent danger pay is an allowance for U.S. forces serving in an area where they are subject to the threat of physical harm from hostile fire, mines, civilian insurrection, civil war or terrorism, the defense official said.
Service members on duty in Ukraine can earn an extra $7.50 per day, or up to $225 per month, according to the Pentagon guidance.
The extra money is retroactive to April 24, 2022, allowing troops who spent time in Ukraine since then to earn back pay. The date lines up with the State Department’s designation of Ukraine for danger pay allowance for its employees, the official said.
Starting July 13, a separate hardship allowance of up to $150 per month for members living in substandard conditions outside the United States will drop to $100 per month when combined with the extra danger pay, the Pentagon said in its memo.
Troops in Ukraine eligible for both allowances could earn a total of up to $325 per month.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, President Joe Biden has insisted no U.S. forces will be deployed inside the country to take part in the conflict.
The only U.S. military personnel in Ukraine are those assigned to the embassy, the defense official said. Thousands of U.S. service members are based just outside Ukraine, in neighboring Poland and Romania.
Those numbers could increase in the near future, when the U.S. and its allies plan to start training Ukrainian pilots on the F-16, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at a White House briefing Wednesday.
The details and timeline still are being worked out, but “we want to get them trained … as fast as we can,” he said, adding the training will be done in Romania and Denmark.
In May, Biden said he would allow Ukrainian pilots to be trained on American-made F-16s, reversing a monthslong refusal to grant Ukraine’s long-standing request for the fighter jets.
