U.S.
troops to train regular Ukrainian military troops: State Department
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[July 25, 2015]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - 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.
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"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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Jul/25/images/ads/current/graue_sda_june2015.png) 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.
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"There's no plan to change that," he said.
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.
(Reporting by David Alexander and Bill Trott; Editing by Bernard
Orr)
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