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Russia's defense industry

Some 300 US airborne troops arrive in Ukraine’s Lviv

The US troops will train the Ukrainian forces in how to establish defenses and actions as part of units

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHEKO

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Kremlin says US military instructors’ presence in Ukraine destabilizes situation

KIEV, April 17. /TASS/. Around 300 US airborne troops arrived in western Ukraine’s Lviv on Friday to train Ukrainian servicemen to conduct combat actions, Kiev’s military operation spokesman, Andrey Lysenko, has said.

"Today, around 300 paratroopers of the 173rd brigade of the US Army arrived in Lviv," he said. The US troops will train the Ukrainian forces in how to establish defenses and actions as part of units.

US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt earlier on Friday confirmed that the 173rd Airborne troops have arrived in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov earlier wrote on Facebook that 290 US airborne troops are to land on April 20 in western Ukraine’s Lviv region at the Yavorov training range. The 173rd brigade and armed units of Ukraine’s national guard will hold joint training exercises under the agreement with the US State Department, Avakov said.

The agreement on the training mission was reached by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden, Avakov said. Some 900 members of Ukraine’s national guard will participate in the exercises.

There will be three rounds of training of 300 Ukraine’s national guard troops, and each of the period will last for 8 weeks, he said. Then the joint exercises will take place that will involve the national guard units, battalions Azov, Kulchitsky, Yaguar, Omega and other units from Kiev, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Odessa, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnitsa.

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