Russian DM: US Troops Training Ukrainian Forces Near Conflict Zone

Pentagon Rejects Reports as 'Ridiculous'

by Jason Ditz, 

Though they confirmed that the majority of the US troops deployed to Ukraine are indeed training in the far west of the country, Russia’s Defense Ministry claims a small portion of the US force has gone east, near the contested civil war territory, on apparent training operations there.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the US troops have been in sites near the contested zone, including Mariupol and Severodonetsk.

The Pentagon denied the report, saying that it was a “ridiculous” allegation. The US announced Monday that around 300 troops who arrived in Ukraine over the weekend would be training in Lviv.

As with US allegations about Russia’s presence in Ukraine, Russia offered no evidence of the US presence in the east. though they claimed footage was being shown of US troops in Mariupol on Ukrainian television.

http://news.antiwar.com/2015/04/23/russian-dm-us-troops-training-ukrainian-forces-near-conflict-zone/