The U.S. military confirmed Friday that it sent paratroopers to Ukraine to train government forces in the ongoing fight against pro-Russia rebels — a move that drew an immediate rebuke from Moscow.
Russia warned that the American training mission would “seriously destabilize the situation” in war-torn Ukraine.
The U.S. paratroopers began arriving in Ukraine last week, U.S. Army spokesman Donald Wrenn told AFP. The training mission, dubbed Operation Fearless Guardian, calls for some 300 paratroopers to remain in Ukraine for about six months and provide instruction to about 900 soldiers from Ukraine’s national guard. Britain contributed 75 troops to the training mission, and Canada added another 200.
Moscow, which the U.S. says is backing the separatist fighters in Ukraine, slammed the Obama administration’s efforts to increase the effectiveness of the Ukrainian forces.
“The participation of instructors and experts from third countries on Ukrainian territory … of course, does not help to resolve the conflict,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov. “On the contrary, it can seriously destabilize the situation.”
The war in Ukraine has claimed more than 6,000 lives thus far, according to the U.N. \\
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