There was a modicum of good news this week, as we learned that the United States had sent U.S. Army troops to Ukraine for joint training exercises. Some 300 troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is based in Vicenza, Italy, arrived in western Ukraine for Operation Fearless Guardian, which is to train 900 members of national guard units in three rotations over a six-month period. “Ukraine is a strong partner that has participated in exercises and operations with us around the world,” Capt. Ashish Patel, a planning officer with the brigade, said in a news release on the official homepage of the U.S. Army. “They’ve asked the U.S. for assistance in providing this capability, and this training will help them defend their borders and their sovereignty.”
The training is taking place at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center at Yavoriv, Lviv Oblast. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the exercise on April 20, which was also attended by U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, President Petro Poroshenko said the armed forces must be rebuilt from scratch to deter the foreign threat facing Ukraine. “It is not an exaggeration to say that a new face of Ukrainian troops is being formed here today,” the president said. He noted that “The training is being held under unique circumstances. The foreign state has unleashed a full-scale aggression and a multi-level hybrid war against Ukraine on the eastern border of our country.”
Moscow’s reaction was predictable. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that the arrival of the military trainers could “destabilize the situation” in Ukraine as a fragile ceasefire was holding (we would qualify that by saying holding only somewhat). It must be pointed out that the U.S. operation was in fact delayed for a month in order to give the Minsk 2 ceasefire time to take effect. In addition, spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told Russia Today television that the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry is “gravely concerned” by the training plans of the United States, Britain and Canada. About 75 British soldiers have been instructing Ukrainian troops in command procedures, tactical intelligence and battlefield first aid, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times. And Canada announced on April 14 that it would be sending 200 troops to the Yavoriv base this summer to train Ukrainians in explosives and de-mining operations, medical aid, military police operations and logistics. That training program is to last until March 31, 2017.
Meanwhile, there was also more bad news this week. Acting spokesperson Marie Harf said at the U.S. State Department’s April 22 briefing that “combined Russian-separatist forces” continue to violate the terms of the Minsk 2 agreement. She explained that these forces “maintain a sizable number of artillery pieces and multiple rocket launchers within areas prohibited under the Minsk accords.” She also reported that “The Russian military has deployed additional air defense systems into eastern Ukraine and moved several of these nearer the front lines” – “the highest amount of Russian air defense equipment in eastern Ukraine since August.”
In addition, it was reported at the State Department briefing that “Combined Russian-separatist forces have been conducting increasingly complex training in eastern Ukraine. …Russia is also building up its forces along its border with Ukraine. …These forces will give Russia its largest presence on the border since October 2014.”
Thus, the State Department’s briefing underlined the veracity of the words of Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren who reacted to Russia’s criticisms of Operation Fearless Guardian as destabilizing. “I would say it’s Russia that is destabilizing Ukraine. They are the ones who are continuing to supply lethal weapons. They are continuing to send Russian forces, combat forces, into Ukraine.”
To be sure, it is significant that new training programs are being held with the goal of improving the fighting capabilities of Ukrainian troops, but training and non-lethal aid – while welcome and needed – will not be enough to counter the existential threat Ukraine faces.