Lt. General Ben Hodges, the head of U.S. Army Europe, said the exact number of soldiers heading to the Yavoriv Training Area near the city of L’viv – which is about 40 miles east of the Polish border – has not yet been determined.
U.S. soldiers will train four companies of the Ukrainian National Guard, as part of a request from the Ukrainian government. Washington also will provide heavier military equipment, including armored vehicles, to the government in Kiev, Defense News reported.
The U.S. State Department aims "to assist Ukraine in strengthening its law enforcement capabilities, conduct internal defense, and maintain rule of law" Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Vanessa Hillman told Defense News.
The training mission comes at a time when fighting around the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk between government forces and anti-Kiev separatists rages on.
Rebels plan to expand battles for new territory, to move a front line from Donetsk and secure civilians living there, their leader said on Friday.
Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, stressed that the rebels will not initiate further cease-fire talks with Ukraine, and planned to continue advancing until they take control of the entire Donetsk region.
On his side, the Ukrainian president also invoked the fate of civilians to justify intensified military engagement with rebels.
“If the enemy is not willing to comply with the cease-fire regime and put an end to the suffering of civilians, we will fight back,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
Both sides in the conflict have technically been under a cease-fire since September. Fighting broke out last year between Ukrainian forces and mostly Russian-speaking rebels angered by what they call Kiev's policies of forceful Ukrainianization of the country’s east.
On Friday, authorities of the Donetsk People's Republic accused Ukrainian government forces of shelling a bus stop in Donetsk killing at least 13 people.
The United Nations estimates that more than 5,000 have died in the conflict since fighting began in April – 262 in the last nine days alone – while approximately 1.2 million have been displaced.
The conflict has refocused American attention in Eastern Europe following two wars in the Middle East, Derek Chollet, former assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, told Defense One.
"We're very open to the idea that this becomes a first step in further training for the Ukrainian military," Chollet said of this spring’s training mission.
