U.S. Troops Arrive In Ukraine For Training Exercises

MOSCOW (AP) — About 300 US Army paratroopers have arrived in Ukraine for training exercises with national guard units, a move criticized by the Kremlin and eastern Ukraine’s Russia-backed separatist rebels.

The troops, from the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade, are to spend several weeks training a total of about 900 Ukrainian national guardsmen.

Although Interior Minister Arsen Avakov had said the guardsman units could include the Azov Battalion, a far-right formation notorious for using an insignia used by many military units in Nazi Germany, U.S. Embassy spokesman James Hallock said Azov fighters would not be among those trained.

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