Nearly 300 US Army Soldiers to Train Ukraine National Guard in April - East Idaho News
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Nearly 300 US Army Soldiers to Train Ukraine National Guard in April

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Thinkstock 031915 UkraineMap?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1426818119625Marcio Silva/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Nearly 300 U.S. Army soldiers will travel to western Ukraine in late April to help with a long-scheduled training exercise with Ukraine’s National Guard.

The exercise was originally scheduled for March, but was placed on hold while the U.S. debated whether the timeframe would cause Russia and Russian separatists to violate the cease-fire agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren announced the plan to send 290 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade to spend two months training up to three battalions of Ukraine’s new national guard.

Separately, the U.S. has ramped up its rotational presence in the Baltics and Poland, with 3,000 soldiers from the Third Infantry Division replacing the 550 soldiers who’ve been in the region since January. The 550 soldiers from the Second Cavalry Regiment, which is being replaced, will convoy its vehicles and soldiers along a 1,100-mile route back to Germany.

The top U.S. Army general in Europe, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, told reporters this week that the convoy is a “tremendous opportunity” to practice long-range capability.


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