The Los Angeles Times reports that “Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the arrival of U.S. military trainers in western Ukraine a ‘provocation’ and warned Ukrainians that they should rethink the consequences of hosting Western forces.”  

“’U.S.-Ukrainian military drills in the western Ukrainian Lviv region threaten Russia’s security,’ ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement carried by the official Tass news agency.”  

“A top NATO commander lambasted Russia in turn in a fashion reminiscent of the Cold War, a reflection of the crisis that now afflicts East-West relations after two decades of hope for an end to the bipolar world.”