A U.S. military official said Tuesday that the Pentagon will soon deploy a small number of troops to Ukraine to provide medical training to Ukrainian forces fighting against pro-Russian separatists, reported The Associated Press.
The official said that between five and 10 service members will be dispatched to western Ukraine next week for a second round of coaching and mentoring. The U.S.-trained Ukrainian troops will then go on to become trainers themselves, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. troops will be deployed out of Europe, AP reported. Some 300 Ukrainian troops were trained last year in battlefield medicine.
A Pew Research Center survey released Tuesday found that the American public is split over whether the U.S. should provide training to Ukrainian troops. Forty-nine percent said they would favor providing training, while 46 percent are opposed.
As a result of the "continued Russian-backed aggression," as British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon called it, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Tuesday that up to 75 British military personnel will also be sent to Ukraine in the next few weeks to provide medical, logistics, intelligence and infantry training, reported the BBC. While most of the training will be non-combat related, there will be an infantry element as well.
"Over the course of the next month we are going to be deploying British service personnel to provide advice and a range of training, from tactical intelligence to logistics to medical care, which is something else they have asked for," Cameron said, reported Reuters.
"We will also be developing an infantry training programme with Ukraine to improve the durability of their forces. This will involve a number of British service personnel; they will be away from the area of conflict but I think this is the sort of thing we should be helping with."
Cameron emphasized that Britain will not supply lethal weapons to Ukrainian forces, a decision President Barack Obama is still considering, while many Republican and Democrat lawmakers have already voiced their support for lethal aid.
British troops have already participated in NATO training exercises in Ukraine, but this will be the first time they are sent explicitly for training purposes, and more NATO countries are expected to follow.
