U.S. to train Ukrainian guardsmen

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has announced that some 290 U.S. Army paratroopers will travel to western Ukraine next month to train three battalions of Ukrainian national guard troops. U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said on March 19 that military personnel based in Italy would carry out the training at the Yavoriv training center, probably sometime in late April. An exact date has not been finalized but the training, which was announced last August, had been due to start in mid-March and was delayed after being placed under review. Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the head of U.S. Army troops in Europe, told reporters this week the training mission had been delayed in part to avoid giving Moscow a reason to back out of a peace deal agreed last month between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters)