US European Command has dispatched a contingent of 12 US service members to Kiev, Ukraine, to assist in the investigation and recovery efforts of downed Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 last month, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday. Kirby said the service members, at the State Department’s request, will “provide expertise in recovery operations, specifically communications, logistics, and surveying, and they will not leave [Kiev],” according to an Aug. 5 release. “Recovery operations [are] something, tragically and unfortunately, the US military has to do and has to be good at,” said Kirby. He noted there are now more than 10,000 Russian troops along the southeastern border and Russia continues “to reinforce these units, [so] that they are very capable and very ready across what we call combined arms capabilities—armor, artillery, air defense, special forces,” said Kirby.
Navy Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. assumed leadership of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, succeeding Navy Adm. John Aquilino at a change of command ceremony, urging action amid China's “increasing intrusive and expansionist claims,” on May 3