Kyiv condemns Nazi graffiti on gravestones:
Unidentified vandals have spray-painted Nazi graffiti at a memorial cemetery in Ukraine where some Poles are buried.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin denounced the vandals' action at the Bykivnia memorial on the outskirts of Kyiv.
"I resolutely condemn the vandalizing of the Ukrainian and Polish memorials in Bykivnia. Nothing is sacred for the provocateurs, and they will bear responsibility," Klimkin said on Twitter late on January 25.
Bykivnia is a burial place for victims of the Soviet secret police, including some Poles, who were executed from the 1920s to the 1940s.
Vandals spray-painted the name of the SS division Galicia, a Nazi unit consisting of Ukrainian volunteers, on one tombstone at Bykivnia. They also put the name of UNA-UNSO, a Ukrainian far-right nationalist organization.
Poland and Ukraine have friendly ties, but some in Poland harbor bitter memories about the killings of up to 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists between 1943 and 1944 in Volyn and the eastern Galicia regions, which are now part of Ukraine. (AP, TASS)
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Of general interest to Ukraine-watchers:
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Poroshenko Signs Decree Allowing NATO Training In Ukraine During 2017
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree allowing troops from the United States and other NATO countries to carry out training missions in Ukraine during 2017.
The presidential website announced the signing on January 26, saying that, under a previously announced plan, Ukraine will host up to 3,000 troops, along with equipment and aircraft, from the United States and other NATO countries under NATO's Partnership for Peace program in 2017.
It said about 2,500 troops, up to 10 navy surface ships, five submarines, planes, helicopters and other equipment, would arrive for 25 days during the summer as part of the Sea Breeze 2017 training operation.
Maneuvers under an operation called Rapid Trident will also be held in Ukraine during 2017.
Poroshenko's decree also allows Ukrainian forces to take part in exercises outside of Ukraine,including scheduled maneuvers in Britain, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Denmark,Jordan, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Romania.