Swiss Paper Blows the Lid Off Alleged Ukraine's Secret NATO-Backed Base
© AP Photo/ Aleksandr ShulmanSchweizisk avis løfter sløret for en angivelig hemmelig NATO base i Ukraine
Mens Washington angiveligt støtter en fredelig løsning for konflikten i Ukraine-Donbass, så understøtter nye afsløringer - hvis de er sande - ikke disse påstande men lader tværtimod at harmonere godt med det grønne lys for amerikanske våben til Kiev.

Den schweiziske avis Le Temps har rapporteret at snesevis af amerikanske og canadiske instruktører træner ukrainske soldater ved det forhenværende sovjetiske skydeterræn Yavorov i det vestlige Ukraine..

Avisen beskriver et skydeterræn på 26 kilometer (16 mile)-langt og 19 kilometer (11,8 mile)-bredt som et af de mest hemmelige steder i Ukraine, hvor landets soldater er blevet trænet af udenlandske instruktører siden 2015.


Kommentar: Denne artikel er delvis oversat til dansk af Sott.net fra: Swiss newspaper reveals NATO's secret training base in Ukraine


The main goal of training is to significantly improve the qualification of Ukrainian army personnel, which will allow them to adapt more quickly to NATO standards and learn how to fight better, according to Le Temps.

Conducted on a permanent basis, training is based on the principle of permanent drills, which continue until the Ukrainian servicemen will be able to handle a mission against a simulated enemy.


Comment: NATO wants Europe's civilian infrastructure ready for war


The newspaper cited one of the Canadian instructors as saying that right now, Ukraine is not ready to join NATO and that it is unlikely to do so in the next fifteen years.


Comment: They can't officially join NATO but they can do their dirty work.


In the past three years, the Yavorov firing range has become a permanent base for about 200 American and 250 Canadian servicemen for whom barracks, dining rooms and gyms were specially built.

About 6,000 Ukrainian servicemen, including those who took part in the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine's Donbass region, have been trained at Yavorov since 2015.

The military conflict in Ukraine has been in place since 2014, after Donbass residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government, which had come to power following the forceful ouster of the country's elected president.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon's arms exporting agency announced that the US State Department has approved the sale of hundreds of Javelin anti-tank missiles and missile launch units to Kiev, in a deal worth at least 47 million dollars.

In late December, US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Washington planned to provide Kiev with military assistance, which she claimed would not violate the Minsk peace accords on the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.