About 300 US paratroopers arrived this week in Ukraine to train the Ukrainian National Guard which is fighting separatists in the east, the US Army said in a statement.

About 300 US paratroopers arrived this week in Ukraine to train the Ukrainian National Guard which is fighting separatists in the east, the US Army said in a statement.

The troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived on Tuesday and Wednesday in Yavoriv, western Ukraine, to spend six months training three battalions of Ukrainian troops, said the statement dated Thursday.

Fighting between the separatists and Ukrainian troops is rumbling on in the east despite a February ceasefire agreement.

The conflict has so far claimed more than 6,000 lives, according to the United Nations.

The US troops will train the National Guard of Ukraine (NGU), a reservist force reformed in 2014 to bring volunteers and militia under government control.

"We will be conducting classes on war-fighting functions, as well as training to sustain and increase the professionalism and proficiency of military staffs," Major Jose Mendez, operations officer for the brigade, which is based in Italy, said in the statement.