U.S. troops arrive in Ukraine for training exercises

MOSCOW — About 300 US Army paratroopers on Friday arrived in Ukraine for training exercises with national guard units, a move criticized by Moscow and eastern Ukraine's Russia-backed separatist rebels.

The troops, from the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade, are to spend several weeks training a total of about 900 Ukrainian national guardsmen.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich denounced the guardsmen as "ultranationalists ... who stained themselves with the blood of women, children and the elderly during their punitive operations."

Although Interior Minister Arsen Avakov had said the guardsman units could include the Azov Battalion, a far-right formation notorious for using an insignia used by many military units in Nazi Germany, U.S. Embassy spokesman James Hallock said Azov fighters would not be among those trained.

Though fighting has diminished substantially since a February cease-fire deal was signed in Minsk, Belarus, clashes continue and each side accuses the other of wanting to resume the conflict. Lukashevich said the U.S. troops' presence violates the section of the Minsk agreement that bans foreign "armed formations" from Ukraine.

On Friday, the UN Human Rights Commissioner's office said at least 6,116 people have been killed since the fighting broke out a year ago.

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