The US is conducting war games for Ukrainian commanders – NYT

The United States is helping to train and prepare the Ukrainian military to resist the Russian invasion.

The New York Times reports that this week the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command hosted a Ukrainian military delegation at its headquarters in Germany.

The US military together with the Ukrainian military conducted the so-called war games: they simulated the possible course of hostilities between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russian invaders in the spring of this year.

The maneuvers were attended by high-ranking generals of the US army responsible for supporting Ukraine.

During the military exercises, a number of options for a counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Defense Forces to liberate the temporarily captured territory from the Russian invaders were worked out.

The training was conducted to work out various strategies of Ukrainian actions, taking into account all risks and various steps.

The American edition notes that the actions of the troops on the real battlefield will be determined exclusively by the Ukrainian higher military command. The Americans only help to simulate various possible situations during the course of hostilities.

Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also attended the exercise on March 2. In discussing them afterward, he described “a huge table with maps and icons and other military paraphernalia meant to represent potential battles.”

“The Ukrainians are moving things around on these maps to determine what is their best course of action, and they determine the advantages and disadvantages of the risks associated. It’s a common thing that all militaries do,” Milley said.

However, for security reasons, the U.S. military refused to detail the options that the Ukrainians tested during the exercises.

As previously reported, a group of 635 Ukrainian soldiers in February completed training at the U.S. base in Germany. They in particular were trained in the operation of American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

The exercises began in mid-January at the Grafenwoehr Training Area under an expanded U.S. program of training the Ukrainian military.