Photo By Sgt. Gregory Glosser | United Kingdom Lt. Col. Jonny Kitson and Col. Clayton Kuetemeyer discuss future...... read more read more
Leaders of Task Force Illini, 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Illinois Army National Guard, met with multinational training partners and embassy personnel, and toured sites of cultural significance in Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of a familiarity visit Aug. 17-20.
On arrival in Kyiv, Col. Clayton Kuetemeyer and Command Sgt. Maj. Douglas Danielson were met by Ukrainian Land Forces Training Commander Col. Vitalii Negodenko and toured local landmarks. The tour included the Maidan or "Victory Square," which was site of demonstrations in 2014 that came to be known as the "Euromaidan Revolution."
“In the six years since the Ukrainian people demanded change in their national political leadership,” said Kuetemeyer. “The citizens and the Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are investing tremendous energy to improve their country while also fighting a war to defend their borders.”
On Aug. 18 Kuetemeyer and Danielson met with key officials and US military officers at the U.S. Embassy. The command team and embassy personnel discussed the political climate in Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine's progress toward modernizing its military training methods and organizational structure, which is still partially influenced by old Soviet-era doctrine.
The mission of Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine (JMTG-U), which is lead by Task Force Illini and includes several other partner nations, is to facilitate Ukraine’s goal of transitioning its military and training strategies to bolster its defenses against aggression in the east and to align with NATO operational standards.
“Their commitment inspires us as we serve alongside their leaders and Soldiers, together with other NATO multinational partners like Canada, United Kingdom and Lithuania,” said Kuetemeyer.
Kuetemeyer and Danielson later met with representatives from Lithuania and the United Kingdom, also JMTG-U partners, where they discussed interoperability of NATO aligned militaries. They said that working together to identify and train the Ukrainian military to facilitate change from inside is important for the future Ukraine.
On their final day in Kyiv, the group toured the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide. The Holodomor, which means "death by hunger," took place between 1932 and 1933 where millions of Ukrainians starved to death under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' engineered famine.
“It was inspiring to learn how Ukraine has resisted tyranny and how meticulously they revere and remember the lives lost at the hands of the former U.S.S.R.,” said Danielson. “It was powerful.”
| Date Taken: | 08.20.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.28.2020 02:53 |
| Story ID: | 376976 |
| Location: | KYIV, UA |
| Web Views: | 72 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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