The Ukrainian military started training with U.S. Green Berets in 2014. As Ukraine’s government actively encourages its citizens to join the fight against Russian forces, the training seems to be paying off.
According to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, U.S. intelligence has detected signs that the Ukrainian military is beginning to go on the offensive. Since the beginning of the invasion on February 24, Ukrainian forces have been primarily on the defensive, attempting to halt the advance of Russian troops across its borders.
According to Special Forces retired Green Beret Sgt. Mage Martin Moore, the training has significantly impacted Ukraine’s fight to defend itself against a Russian invasion.
Though U.S. troops are not directly involved in the Russian conflict, says Moore, the Green Berets — a branch of U.S. Army’s special forces — took the training in Ukraine very seriously.
Moore told Fox News that following the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 — when the Ukrainian military was little more than a pushover — Ukraine began a modernization effort to prepare for possible future Russian incursions into the country. The U.S. military stepped in to help by training the Ukrainian amateur forces with the Army’s Green Berets.Â
“They immediately set upon a great effort to protect Ukraine and provide training,” Moore said. “There’s nobody better at training than Green Berets.”
 According to Yahoo News, five former intelligence and national security officials familiar with the initiative reported that the CIA oversaw a secret and intensive training program in the United States for elite Ukrainian special operations forces and other intelligence personnel. The program, which began in 2015, is based at an undisclosed facility in the southern United States, officials say.
“The bottom line is that our training mission in Ukraine is ongoing,” Lt. Col. Juan Martinez, spokesman for U.S. Special Operations Command Europe, told Stars and Stripes in January.
The New York Times reported the same week that the White House was considering funding, training, and arming a resistance movement within Ukraine in the event of an occupation. According to administration officials, the plan could include assisting Ukrainian resistance fighters by providing training within NATO countries such as Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
On March 16, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in security assistance to Ukraine, bringing the total U.S. security assistance commitment to Ukraine to $1 billion in just the last week, and a total of $2 billion since the Biden Administration’s inception.
“America is leading this effort together with our allies and partners,” Biden said, “providing enormous levels of security and humanitarian assistance that we’re adding to today, and we’re going to continue to do more in the days and weeks ahead.”
The U.S. Army’s special forces are deployed worldwide and speak a variety of languages. Green Berets date back more than 200 years, with notable forefathers including the Revolutionary War Swamp Fox Francis Marion, the World War II Office of Strategic Services Jedburg Teams, Detachment 101 in Burma, and the Alamo Scouts, Military.com reports.
“They work quietly to train and prepare militaries to fight hostile attacks and incursions,” Moore told Fox News. “Green Berets trained Ukrainian militia units to fight guerrilla warfare against invaders and assisted in the development of skillfully built elite Ukrainian fighting units.”
