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Internal reforms and US training helped turn around the Ukrainian military (in photos)
For several years, the Ukrainian armed forces conducted training with U.S. Army instructors at the International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv in eastern Ukraine. The base was shelled by Russia on 13 March, killing at least 35 people, although there were no U.S. trainers there as they were withdrawn at the end of February. The Ukrainian Air Force also established a special relationship with the California National Guard.
Ukrainian soldiers assault a mock village during training at Rapid Trident 2021 exercises in eastern Ukraine. Rapid Trident 2021 involved approximately 6,200 personnel from 12 nations, Sept. 20- Oct. 1, 2021, at the International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv, Ukraine.
US Army photo: Staff Sgt. David Carnahan/81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team
Ukraine soldiers with blue and yellow battle flag during training at Rapid Trident 2021.
U.S. Army photo: Staff Sgt. David Carnahan/81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. David Baldwin escorts Volodymir Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, and California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis during a visit to the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Air National Guard Base, California, Sept. 2, 2021. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $3 billion in training, advisory efforts, and equipment to help Ukraine’s forces preserve its territorial integrity and secure its borders, including more than $2 billion since the start of the Biden Administration.
California National Guard
During a visit to the U.S. last September, Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky visited the California Air National Guard which has a longstanding cooperation agreement with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Zelenskyy examined weapons and equipment and saw how airborne troops perform training exercises to rescue victims by helicopter.
U.S. Air National Guard
President Volodymir Zelensky receives a demonstration of tactical equipment during a visit to the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Air National Guard Base, California, Sept. 2, 2021. The California National Guard and Ukraine State Partnership Program was established in 1993 through the Department of Defense as a means to develop and strengthen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Ukraine.
U.S. Air National Guard photo/ Senior Airman Duane Ramos
Ukrainian soldiers assault a mock village during training at Rapid Trident 2021, an annual, multinational exercise that supports "joint combined interoperability" among the partner militaries of Ukraine and the U.S., as well as NATO allies.
U.S. Army photo: Staff Sgt. David Carnahan/81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team
A Ukrainian soldier during training exercise at Rapid Trident 2021, Sept. 20- Oct. 1, 2021, at the International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv, Ukraine. Since 2014, U.S. military advisers have trained more than 27,000 Ukrainian soldiers, U.S. officials say. Training included everything from “basic fundamentals” to the importance of camouflage and dispersion tactics and cyber operations.
U.S. Army photo: Staff Sgt. David Carnahan/81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team
The Deputy Commander of U.S. Army Europe Maj. Gen. Timothy McGuire shakes hands with Ukrainian Army Land Forces Commander Lt. Gen. Ruslan Khomchak at the Rapid Trident military exercices held at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in Yavoriv, Ukraine June 27 - July 8, 2016.
U.S. Army photo
The Deputy Commander of U.S. Army Europe Maj. Gen. Timothy McGuire watches security operations training at the Rapid Trident 16 Ukrianian joint military exercises, July 6, 2016. Ukrainian Armed Forces conducted regular training with U.S. and U.K. trainers at the International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv, Ukraine.
U.S. Army photo: Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes/114th Public Affairs Detachment
Armed Forces of Ukraine soldiers 'fast rope' from an MI-8 helicopter, assaulting a mock village during training at Rapid Trident 2021. ‘Green Berets’ from the U.S. Army’s Special Forces Group, as well reservists from the U.S. National Guard, have been training the Ukrainian military at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center near Lviv in western Ukraine. The base was bombed by Russia on March 13, killing at least 35 people, though no U.S. trainers were there as they were withdrawn in late February.
U.S. Army photo: Staff Sgt. David Carnahan/81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team
A Russian-made BMP infantry fighting vehcile during Ukrianian military training exercises in 2021 at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center near Lviv in western Ukraine.
U.S. Army photo: Staff Sgt. David Carnahan/81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team
A Ukrainian infantryman with a German-made Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank weapon during a multinational training exercise, Rapid Trident 2021, at a military base near Yavoriv, western Ukraine, in 2021.
U.S. Army photo: Staff Sgt. David Carnahan/81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team
U.S. and Ukrianian flags flying during a visit by President Volodymir Zelensky to the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Air National Guard Base, California, Sept. 2, 2021. Earlier this month, Congress approving a whopping $13.6 billion for Ukraine, including humanitarian, economic and military assistance.
U.S. Air National Guard
“Our fighter pilots have been telling everyone for years that the Ukrainian Air Force is pretty good,” the head of the California National Guard, Maj Gen David Baldwin, said in a recent interview after hosting President Volodymir Zelensky at a California Air National Guard base in September 2021.
U.S. Air National Guard,
US soldiers march during the opening ceremony of the "Rapid Trident-2017" international military exercises at the Yavoriv shooting range not far from western Ukrainian city of Lviv on September 11, 2017. Rapid Trident 2017 involved approximately 1,800 personnel from 14 nations, including Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Italy, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian and US servicemen take part in a cermony of the drill opening at the Yavoriv base in western Ukraine on July 20, 2015. Ukrainian and US troops launched fresh drills near the war-torn country's Polish border in a bid to show unity and resolve in the face of an increasingly resurgent Kremlin. The annual Rapid Trident exercises involve 1,800 soldiers from 18 countries.
YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images
Several other nations participated in the Ukrianina military training, including Canada, Lithuania, Germany and Poland. In this photo, Canadian military instructors look on during Ukrainian military exercises at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in Yavoriv, near Lviv, on July 12, 2016.
YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian folk dancers perform for Ukrainian and US servicemen in a ceremony for joint-drill exercises between the two countries in Yavoriv polygon, Lviv district, western Ukraine on July 20, 2015.
YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images
The mother of Ukrainian officer Ivan Skrypnyk cries over the coffin with the body of her son, during the funeral ceremony on March 17, 2022 in Lviv, Ukraine. The soldier died in Sunday's airstrike on the nearby International Center for Peacekeeping and Security at the Yavoriv military complex. The barrage of Russian missiles killed 35 and wounded scores.
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