US General Outlines Plans to Teach Ukrainian National Guard how to Fight “Russians”

US troops will be sent to western Ukraine to prepare the Ukrainian National Guard, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges published.

© AP Photo/ Sergei Chuzavkov

ABUJA, January 24 (Ooduarere) – The leader of the US armed force in Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, told a question and answer session in Kiev on Wednesday that US troops will be conveyed to western Ukraine to train the Ukrainian National Guard, as indicated by media reports.

The preparation is set to occur at the Yavoriv Training Area close to the city of L’viv, despite the fact that the definite number of troops tuning in is yet to be affirmed. Pentagon representative Lt. Col. Vanessa Hillman told Defense News that the preparation is a piece of US State Department endeavors “to assist Ukraine in strengthening its law enforcement capabilities, conduct internal defense, and maintain rule of law.”

The Ukrainian parliament on Thursday affirmed a presidential declaration to hold three waves of incomplete military assembly in 2015

In May 2014 the Ukrainian government voted to structure a 60,000 in number Ukrainian National Guard, for which the US has reserved $19 million of funding from its Global Security Contingency Fund, to help prepare and train officers.

Notwithstanding the military preparing, on Wednesday the Kiev Post reported that the US Embassy in Ukraine has given the Ukrainian National Guard Service with a model of the Ukrainian-made “‘Kozak’ armoured personnel carrier, which is “analogous to a light version of a U.S. Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle,” the Embassy said, by paper.

“To date, the United States has delivered dozens of armoured pick-up trucks and vans to the Ukrainian Border Guard Service. The ‘Kozak’ is larger and offers a higher level of protection,”  US authorities said in the announcement