Washington, September 4 (RHC)-- The Pentagon says 200 U.S. troops will be deployed to Ukraine to take part in a military exercise in the country later this month.  This will be the first deployment of U.S. ground troops to Ukraine since Kiev engaged in a bloody conflict with pro-Russians in the east earlier this year.
 
Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren confirmed that "approximately 200 personnel" from the U.S. military will join exercise on September 13th through the 26th in Yavoriv, about 60 kilometers from Lviv in western Ukraine.  The annual military exercise, dubbed “Rapid Trident,” will include more than 1,000 military personnel from 15 countries.
 
Meanwhile, about 280 U.S. naval forces were scheduled to hold a separate maritime war game with troops from Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia and Romania in the Black Sea next week.
 
The USS Ross, a guided missile destroyer, and two vessels from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) maritime group will join the naval drill, dubbed the Sea Breeze.
 
Western powers and the Kiev government accuse Moscow of having a hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, which erupted when Kiev launched military operations in April to silence pro-Russia protests.  Russia adamantly denies the accusation.