Kyiv, June 24, 2016. Ukrainian – American military exercise Rapid Trident-2016 will start on June 27, 2016 in the Lviv region on the territory of Yavoriv training area. In addition, the list of participants includes over 1800 troops from 14 countries of the world: Canada, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Belgium, Lithuania, Turkey, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Sweden. The Ukrainian party will be represented by troops of the Land and Airborne Forces of Ukraine and separate division of the National Guard of Ukraine,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Lieutenant Colonel Oleksiy Chernobai. The majority of Ukrainian troops have the experience of fighting in the ATO zone. Troops of LITPOLUKRBRIG, Lithuanian-Ukrainian brigade, will also be engaged. “Rapid Trident-2016 aims at introducing best practices of the world’s leading armies, professional experience exchange, improving the coordination level between subdivisions of the land forces of the USA, Ukraine and NATO member states as well as members of Partnership for Peace program,” explained the spokesman.
He added that it is the first time that the exercise will take into account the activity of “Ukraine” multinational training group consisting of representatives of the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland. “Activity of the above stated group aims at training Ukrainian troops of various military professions under NATO standards with the help of foreign instructors,” said Lt. Col. Chernobai. According to him, the training is composed headquarter and field stages. The command and staff officers will jointly plan and launch operations, while the contingent will concentrate on countering hybrid forms of military aggression.
Side Notes:
According to Lt. Col. Chernobai, Ukrainian military engineers cleared an area of more than 10ha of mines, missiles and other projectiles. 503 explosive hazards were rendered safe. “In total, almost 116 thousand items of ordnance were defused and nearly 2.5ha of territory since the beginning of ATO,” added the spokesman.
Lt. Col. Chernobai said that a positive result was achieved this week in returning the “Sikorskyi building” to government care, which had been leased out to a charity fund as far back as in 2000. “
A decision of Kyiv appellate court affirmed the decision of Kyiv Commercial court of December 11, 2015 on termination a lease contract and returning the “Sikorskyi building”. At present we are taking measures to prevent destruction of the historic site and creating a museum in the building where the famous aircraft designer Ihor Sikorskyi spent his childhood,” said the spokesman.
