The U.S. Defense Department has dismissed as “ridiculous” and “propaganda” comments by a Russian military official that American troops are training Ukrainian soldiers in the conflict zone in Ukraine’s east.
“There’s no credence to it whatsoever,” said Pentagon Spokesman Colonel Steve Warren, responding Thursday to the allegations. “It’s another example of Russia at the highest levels issuing propaganda.”
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov made the allegation earlier Thursday as U.S. Army and Ukrainian National Guard troops kicked off joint training exercises earlier this week in Yavoriv, in Ukraine’s western Lviv region – more than 1,000 kilometers away from the fighting in the country’s east.
According to Konashenkov, U.S. soldiers are training their Ukrainian counterparts in Ukraine’s east in urban combat.
“What’s of public concern is that American soldiers are teaching Ukrainian National Guard troops [how to conduct] assault operations in urban environments, he said, as quoted by Russian news agencies.
“Only this not happening in the Lviv region on the Yavoriv training ground, as shown by Ukrainian TV channels, but directly in the combat zone in the areas of Mariupol, Severodonetsk, Artemivsk and Volnovakha,” Konashenkov said, referring to cities and towns in Ukraine’s restive Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Effort to ‘shift the focus’
Pentagon Spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said the claim was nothing more than an effort to divert attention from Russian violations of a European-brokered truce agreement reached in February in Minsk, Belarus.
“This is a ridiculous attempt to shift the focus away from what is actually happening in eastern Ukraine,” she said. “Russia continues to supply lethal weapons, training, and command and control support for armed separatists in eastern Ukraine, in blatant violation of Moscow’s Minsk commitments and Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
Commenting on the exercises in Yavoriv, western Ukraine, Lainez said that the Pentagon has been open about them.
“We have been transparent about our soldiers – they are in Yavoriv, far from the east. At Ukraine’s invitation, our soldiers are training Ukraine’s National Guard at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center – where we’ve trained with allies and partners for years,” she said.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Wednesday, also said that the U.S. training of Ukrainian National Guard units is fully transparent, defensive and at the invitation of the Ukrainian government, according to a senior State Department official.
Konashenkov’s claim of U.S. military trainers in eastern Ukraine appeared to be in response to U.S. allegations that Russia was building up air defenses inside eastern Ukraine and involved in training pro-Russian separatists in the area in breach of the Minsk truce agreement.
State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Wednesday that the U.S. has seen the movement of “the highest amount of Russian air defense equipment in eastern Ukraine since August.”
Harf added that the increasingly complex nature of the training exercises “leaves no doubt that Russia is involved.”
Kyiv and many western governments have accused Russia of supporting rebels in eastern Ukraine with military personnel and weapons, a charge Moscow denies.
The year-old conflict has claimed more than 6,100 lives, according to United Nations estimates.
The exercises in Ukraine’s western Lviv region involve 300 U.S. Army paratroopers and some 900 Ukrainian national guardsmen. Dubbed operation “Fearless Guardian-2015,” the drills aim to “establish a professional force that protects and defends Ukraine’s people… [and its] sovereignty,” the Pentagon has said.
The paratroopers are from the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy. The training which, according to the Pentagon, is mainly focused on weapons handling, first aid and casualty evacuation, is to last six months.
VOA’s Jeff Seldin contributed to this report from the Pentagon and Pam Dockins from the State Department.
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