The US military will train Kiev troops fighting against militias in southeast Ukraine, Ben Hodges, US Army Europe commander, said hours before the start of “Normandy Four” talks dubbed a “last chance” for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The officers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in northeast Italy will be deployed to Ukraine as part of the plan, said Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Vanessa Hillman.
According to Hillman, the military aid requested by the Kiev authorities was to help the formation and strengthening of the National Guard, which Kiev launched shortly after the coup in February 2014.
The National Guard troops will be exercising according to
“the traditional training systems of the US Navy Seals and Delta Force,” Semenchenko said.
Since the fighting began in southeast Ukraine, the National Guard has been repeatedly accused of war crimes, including deliberate artillery fire at residential areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, and of blocking humanitarian aid for the regions.
Last September, an Amnesty International report confirmed that abductions, executions and extortion had been committed by the Aidar volunteer battalion.
Earlier this week, Obama said that the US was also examining the possibility of supplying “lethal defensive weapons” to the Kiev authorities.
The plan is opposed by both Russia and the EU, who agree that there can be no military solution to the Ukrainian crisis.
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