US paratroopers to train Ukrainian national guard: Nearly 300 US paratroopers will begin training Ukrainian national guard soldiers next month, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The 290 paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, dubbed Sky Soldiers, will train the Ukrainian troops in the western town of Yavoriv.
Colonel Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said the training, originally set for mid-March, is now due to take place in late April.
The program underwent "some review" so it got off to a late start, he explained.
The American paratroopers will train six Ukrainian national guard companies, "with a focus on internal security and territorial defense," said Eileen Lainez, a Defense Department spokeswoman.
"While we continue to believe that there is no military resolution to this crisis, Ukraine has the right to defend itself."
