US troops start training Ukraine forces
US paratroopers have started training Ukraine government forces to battle pro-Russian forces in the east.
About 300 US troops arrived in Yavoriv, western Ukraine, last week to train the Ukrainian National Guard, the US Army said in a statement on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko welcomed troops from the US 173rd Airborne Brigade for Operation Fearless Guardian in a ceremony Sunday at a military base in Yavoriv.
He told the assembled troops that the Ukrainian armed forces needed to be rebuilt from scratch. "We are the eyewitnesses and direct participants in forming the new Ukrainian military, which like the phoenix is returning after a long time."
American troops involved in the “training mission” will be working alongside 900 members of Ukraine's National Guard, which is deployed in the east where heavy clashes continue despite a ceasefire deal.
The troops will spend six months for the mission.
The US would provide training to the national guardsmen with the kind of weapons already in use by the Ukrainian military such as AK-47 assault rifles, Army Major Michael Weisman told AFP.
The US had announced the training mission last summer, but delayed its implementation--originally planned for March—after negotiations in Minsk, Belarus, led to a ceasefire agreement in February which still officially holds.
Russia has warned that the US involvement could further "destabilize" Ukraine, where the conflict has killed more than 6,000 people in the past year.
"The United States and its allies have crossed all possible lines in their drive to bring Kiev into their orbit. That could not have failed to trigger our reaction," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told an annual security conference in Moscow on Thursday.
The conflict has dragged relations between the US and Russia to their lowest point since the Cold War.
The United States has provided $75 million worth of military aid to Ukraine, but has so far stopped short of sending lethal weapons.
Moscow says Washington is responsible for the escalating tension in Ukraine through sending arms in support of the Ukrainian army.
Western governments, however, have long accused Russia of destabilizing the ex-Soviet country by supporting pro-Russian forces in the eastern regions.
HRJ/HRJ
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