US Training Kyiv

From Yahoo:
"U.S. troops to train regular Ukrainian military troops: State Department"

 

 U.S. troops will begin training regular Ukrainian military forces later this year in an expansion of their current mission, which so far has been limited to instructing Interior Ministry national guard units, the State Department said on Friday. "This training is part of our long-running defense cooperation with Ukraine and is taking place at the invitation of the Ukraine government. This additional program brings our total security assistance committed to Ukraine since 2014 to over $244 million," State Department Mark Toner said. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, head of U.S. Army forces in Europe, said earlier this month that U.S. officials were discussing expanding the military training to include regular Ukrainian troops under the Defense Ministry. The training is part of U.S. efforts to strengthen Ukraine's security following Russia's seizure of the Crimea last year and the spread of separatist unrest in eastern, Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine.  Hodges said officials were looking at training army and special operations troops, likely focusing on skills like tactics and combat medicine. He said the expanded training mission did not mean the administration would be providing Ukraine with lethal arms. The United States has provided Ukrainian forces with non-lethal aid to help them battle Russian-backed rebels, but the administration has resisted providing lethal arms in hopes of preventing an escalation of the conflict. Some U.S. officials have called for giving Ukraine more sophisticated counter-battery radar to help them fight back against artillery and mortar fire from the rebels. Toner said he had nothing to announce on any new weapons for Ukraine and that the focus was on providing non-lethal aid. He said the training would begin in western Ukraine near the Polish border later this autumn. The Pentagon said the training offered to regular Ukrainian military troops would be similar to that given to the national guard forces. U.S. forces in Europe have been training the Ukrainian guard since this spring, focusing on strengthening internal defense capabilities.

^ It's about time the US did more to help the Ukraine. It is over a year since Russia invaded, occupied and annexed the Crimea and about the same amount of time that Russia started giving Russian troops and weapons to the ethnic Russian terrorists fighting in eastern Ukraine. The US, Canada, the EU and several other countries responded by putting sanctions on Russia and while they have had some effect they are only a small part in making sure Russia doesn't try to expand itself militarily into more of eastern Europe. Most of the EU (ie Germany, France, etc) doesn't seem to take the threat from Russia as seriously as places like the Baltics or Poland and so the US has to come in - through NATO - and do what the other countries refuse to do. It seems that nothing can get done around the world unless the US is there in some shape (ie protecting eastern Europe NATO countries from Russia, helping the Ukraine against Russia, fighting Islamist terrorists in eastern and northern Africa or fighting IS in the Middle East. Europeans and others around the world have come to rely too heavily on the US to protect them when they should be doing more to protect themselves. At least the Ukrainians want to do more to protect their citizens and their territory. They just need some help and training. The rest of the world should look at what the Ukrainians have suffered under the Russians and the ethnic Russian terrorists for over a year. They have achieved a great deal with very limited aid or support. I do not believe the majority of the citizens or governments of Europe or the EU would be able to survive the same kind of war - especially on two fronts since most of their people have been "babyed" for decades. ^

 

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/u-troops-train-regular-ukrainian-military-troops-state-191427565.html