Posted on 04/28/2004 8:51:34 AM PDT by areafiftyone
KIEV, April 28 (Reuters) - Ukraine lost its fifth soldier in Iraq on Wednesday, but vowed its peacekeepers would not pull out.
The soldier was killed when his patrol came under attack from grenades and high-calibre machine guns about 60 km (40 miles) south of Kut, Ukraine's Defence Ministry said. Two other Ukrainians were wounded.
The patrol withdrew with support from two U.S. helicopters.
Two Ukrainians have died in previous attacks and three in accidents.
President Leonid Kuchma offered his condolences to the family of the dead soldier, but said Ukraine's approximately 1,600 peacekeepers would stay in Iraq.
"Our troops are not occupying Iraq and are not taking part in military action against Iraq. Our position remains the same," Kuchma told a news conference.
He said Ukraine's Council of Security and Defence would meet on Friday to discuss the situation.
"From the beginning we were against solving the problem of (Saddam) Hussein by military methods. We were against the war," he said.
"It is necessary to stop the bloodletting, to give a peaceful life to Iraqis, to give power to the Iraqi citizens as quickly as possible."
Ukrainian troops pulled out of Kut, southeast of Baghdad, earlier this month after one soldier was killed in an explosion and five hurt in clashes with followers of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Ukraine sent the troops last year to repair ties with the United States, which had been strained by reports of illegal arms sales to Baghdad before the overthrow of Saddam.
The deaths have prompted several opposition deputies to call for Ukraine to withdraw its troops.
Is this a Brit usage, or am I confused?
I thought calibers came in small, medium and large; not low and high.
Or perhaps the author is referring to the quality of the guns, not their size?
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