Poroshenko asks parliament to approve admission of foreign troops to Ukraine

The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, has registered bill No. 10067 "On the approval of the decision of the president of Ukraine on the admission of units of the armed forces of other states to the territory of Ukraine in 2019 for participation in multinational exercises."

According to the website of the parliament, the bill was initiated by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

According to a supplement to the bill, the issue concerns multinational exercises on training the units of armed forces, in particular, Ukrainian-U.S. Exercise Rapid Trident 2019, Ukrainian-U.S. Exercise Sea Breeze 2019, Ukrainian-Romanian Exercise Riverine 2019, multinational exercise Maple Arch 2019, and Ukrainian-British Exercise Warrior Watcher 2019.

Multinational exercises on training the units of armed forces will take place at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in the village of Starychi, Yavoriv district, Lviv region, and at other military units and training areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the year. It is estimated that the total number of forces, armaments and military hardware will reach 13,000 military personnel with arms and military hardware and up to six aircraft and helicopters. The exercises will bring together up to 10,000 servicemen from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, up to 1,500 troops from the U.S. armed forces, and 1,500 from the armed forces of other NATO member states and countries participating in NATO's Partnership for Peace program.