U.S. Military Wraps Up Exercise With Ukrainian Force Wary Of Russia’s Aggression by Martin Egnash - Stars & Stripes
U.S. soldiers concluded training Friday with Ukrainian forces on tactics that local troops will use in their long-running battle against Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east.
Some 1,600 troops from 14 nations took part in the U.S. Army Europe-led Rapid Trident exercise, which served as a testing ground for a Ukrainian military going through a modernization overhaul.
“The training that we’re doing here … is applicable in any theater or situation they may deploy their forces in,” said Col. David Jordan, commander of the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine. “The fact they’re taking on an exercise of this scale, while they’re modernizing their entire military structure and dealing with an active conflict on their eastern border is really quite impressive.”
The drills took place in western Ukraine’s International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv, far from the fighting in the east…