Ukrainian-American exercises began in Ukraine

In the Lviv region of Ukraine, the joint Ukrainian-American exercise “Fearless Guardian” begins, in which about 300 paratroopers of the 173rd Air Force brigade are participating on the American side, and 900 National Guard soldiers on the Ukrainian side.

“The agreement on joint military exercises was reached during negotiations between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden,” Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, who is in charge of the National Guard, said on March 29.

In Moscow, the Ukrainian-American exercises were regarded as a threat to further destabilize the situation in eastern Ukraine, where the conflict between supporters of the self-proclaimed “republics” and the Ukrainian army has continued since April last year.

“The participation of [military] instructors and specialists from third countries on the territory of Ukraine, where the internal Ukrainian conflict remains unresolved, where problems with the implementation of the points of the Minsk agreements still persist, is far from conducive to resolving the conflict. On the contrary, it can destabilize the situation,” the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, outlined the Kremlin’s position last Friday.

In mid-March, British servicemen arrived in Ukraine, who began training Ukrainian soldiers.

Last week it became known that Canada will also send military instructors to the 200 country.

National Guard will learn to fight

The training of the Ukrainian military as part of the “Fearless Guardian” exercise will continue for six months, the country’s authorities specify.

“Three streams of 300 National Guardsmen. Three streams of eight weeks. Then joint exercises,” explained the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov.

According to him, we are talking about such units of the National Guard as the Azov, Kulchytsky, Jaguar, Omega battalions and other units from Kiev, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Odessa, Lvov, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnitsa.

After the end of the exercise, units of the National Guard will receive special equipment and communications equipment from the US military.

American instructors, according to the head of the press service of the special operation of the Ukrainian forces against the armed supporters of the DPR and LPR, Andrei Lysenko, will teach the Ukrainian military how to organize defenses, identify militant positions, provide medical assistance and repel attacks.

“American military personnel are instructors, they have extensive combat experience and will teach our military additional skills that may be needed in direct combat clashes,” he said.

The United States and the West accuse Russia of interfering in a conflict with armed supporters of self-proclaimed DNR and LNR in eastern Ukraine and of supporting their weapons and troops.

Military equipment from Russia?

Meanwhile, according to the leadership of the special operation of the Ukrainian forces, a train with military equipment and a convoy of 50 trucks with equipment and military men arrived from Ukraine from the territory of Russia, according to their data.

Moscow denies all such accusations. During the traditional “Direct Line with Vladimir Putin” held on April 16, the Russian President once again stated that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine.