U.S. military members of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment have requested bigger guns to prepared for increasing hostilities between Russia and the Ukraine . The cavalry unit is reportedly one of the last United States military regiments stationed in Europe. The regiment is based out of Vilseck, Germany and had been deployed to the Baltic States to “deter aggression” after Russia seized the Crimea region in the Ukraine.
The 2nd Cavalry Regiment has reportedly asked that 81 of its 8-wheel-drive Stryker infantry carrier vehicles be upgraded to included 30-mm. automatic cannons. The automatic cannons are double the caliber of the 12.7-mm currently mounted on the Stryker carriers.
The U.S. House Armed Services committee is reportedly in the midst of appropriating the funds needed to fulfill the 2nd Cavalry Regiment military equipment enhancements. The upgraded 30-mm cannons would reportedly give the Strykers the added firepower necessary to combat other light-armored vehicles.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently stated that Russia has “substantially stepped up supplies” to the rebel fighters and has provided the soldiers with advanced military equipment, such as drones, and enhanced training. The NATO official also said that a “sizeable” military buildup by Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine border region would permit pro-Russian rebels to initiate a new combat offensive “with little warning.”
Russian military officials have claimed that United States forces have been training the Ukrainian National Guard in “urban fighting techniques” for at least the past year.
“We’ve been doing this for about 20 years now,” U.S. State Department representative Marie Harf told the media as she deemed the Russian allegations, “ridiculous.” The federal agency further contends that the United States military trainers engaged in activity along the region of Ukraine which border Poland.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr , about 300 U.S. Army paratroopers arrived in Ukraine last week despite warnings from Russia that such a move would escalate hostilities. The paratroopers were reportedly from the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Italy. The paratroopers are expected to spend six months training the 900 members of the Ukraine National Guard.
Vladimir Putin spokesman Dmity Peskov said that the Russian leader has also criticized the arrival of U.S. paratroopers in the Ukraine.
“The participation of instructors and specialists from a third country on the territory of Ukraine, where an unresolved intra-Ukrainian conflict remains, where problems persist in carrying out the Minsk agreement, is far from helping resolve the conflict. To the contrary, it enables destabilizing the situation.”
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[Image via Department of Defense]
