Ukraine conscripts protest at training site demanding uniforms and footwear

© EPA/TASS/IVAN BOBERSKYY

    

Hundreds of mobilized soldiers on Monday blocked the military posts at a Yavorov firing range in western Ukraine's Lviv region, the scene of the Ukrainian-US exercises, demanding to be given uniform and footwear, local media reports have said.

"People were mobilized two weeks ago, but they still look like "tramps." Men complain that no one deals with them although they do not want to sit idle and claim that over the past 14 days they have fired just 10 rounds of ammunition," a source told the Segodnya newspaper.

The incident has prevented the civil personnel working at the training site from reaching their workplace, a source said.

The commanders can hardly appease the angry military men. "All this comes amid the US-Ukrainian drills, with the participation of Ukraine's National Guard soldiers," the source said.

Around 300 US paratroopers arrived in western Ukraine's Lvov in mid-April to train Ukrainian servicemen to conduct combat actions.

The agreement on the training mission was reached by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden. Some 900 members of Ukraine's National Guard will participate in the exercises. There will be three rounds of training of 300 Ukraine's National Guard troops, and each of the period will last for eight weeks.