United States plan to train Ukrainian army soldiers after the National Guard troops 11407151

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Defence & Security News - United States / Ukraine
 
United States plan to train Ukrainian army soldiers after the National Guard troops.
The commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe says the United States is planning to train Ukrainian army soldiers after completing the current training of Ukraine’s National Guard troops. Lt. General Ben Hodges told reporters at the Pentagon Monday, July 13, 2015, the so-called “phase two” of training would begin in late November if the plan is approved.
     
The commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe says the United States is planning to train Ukrainian army soldiers after completing the current training of Ukraine’s National Guard troops. Lt. General Ben Hodges told reporters at the Pentagon Monday, July 13, 2015, the so-called “phase two” of training would begin in late November if the plan is approved. An American sergeant instructs a Ukrainian soldier during joint training exercises on a military base in western Ukraine's Lviv region on May 14.
     

Currently, slightly more than 300 U.S. troops are training three battalions of Ukrainian Ministry of Interior troops, also known as Ukraine’s National Guardsmen, who do not participate in front-line combat. Hodges says this training should finish by November 15.

The “phase two” efforts will train Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense army troops. Hodges says the training, if approved, would be similar to what U.S. soldiers are teaching Ukraine’s National Guardsmen now, including “basic tactical tasks, a lot of emphasis on combat life-saving and how to survive and operate in a very heavily-contested electronic warfare environment.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that he welcomes the possibility of additional U.S. training, describing it as part of a concerted American response to "the global challenge of the entire free world."

The U.S. has called on Russia to end its intervention and has imposed increasingly robust economic sanctions on Moscow. It has provided nonlethal aid to the Ukrainians, but so far the White House has not offered any offensive weaponry.