[Peace-discuss] Fwd: U.S. Will Train Ukrainian Military, May Supply Weapons

[David Johnson via Peace-discuss]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	U.S. Will Train Ukrainian Military, May Supply Weapons
Date: 	Sun, 2 Nov 2014 15:32:18 +0000
From: 	David Sladky <tanstl at hotmail.com>



    U.S. Will Train Ukrainian Military, May Supply Weapons



http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/us_will_train_ukrainian_military_and_could_supply_weapons_20141031




	
	
	


            Posted on Oct 31, 2014


/A scene from the military conflict in Crimea in March 2014. Photo by 
snamess <https://www.flickr.com/photos/112078056@N07/> (CC BY 2.0) 
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/>/

In a move that will rankle Russian authorities, the U.S. government 
announced plans to give the Ukrainian military training, technology and 
weapons, Interfax-Ukraine <http://en.interfax.com.ua> reports.
The announcement was made by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt 
in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda online newspaper. The diplomat 
listed two challenges for Ukrainian security forces: eliminating 
corruption within its structure and developing a coherent response to 
Russian military activity. Russia annexed the territory of Crimea when 
political divisions in Ukraine grew into violent disorder earlier this 
year.
Pyatt said the U.S. has provided night vision devices, first aid kits, 
body armor and ready-to-eat military meals to help improve the Ukrainian 
military’s ability to act in the short term. The United States’ 
longer-term plans “are aimed primarily at retraining and raising the 
professionalism of Ukrainian military to create what President Petro 
Poroshenko said he really wants - an army built in line with NATO 
standards,” Interfax-Ukraine reports.
At a briefing in the capital city of Kiev a few days before the 
announcement, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, a deputy head of the Senate 
Committee on Armed Forces, said that President Obama is entitled to 
supply arms to Ukraine for self-defense with or without Senate approval. 
If no such decision is made by Obama, he added, the Senate will consider 
taking steps that would make the weapons available.
Inhofe said the weapons could be delivered in four days to two weeks. 
The Ukrainian defense minister gave him a list of weapons the military 
wanted, Inhofe said, but the senator would not say exactly what it 
contained.
/Editor’s note: The two source articles for this piece appear to be 
unavailable because of a paywall at Interfax-Ukraine. All quotations and 
information were taken from replications of the sources sent in a 
private email. Also, the opening of this article has been adjusted in 
keeping with complications suggested by some commenters./
/—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly 
<http://www.truthdig.com/alexander_kelly>./


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