A Ukrainian airborne troops company have blindsided NATO troops during a joint military exercise, capturing an American HQ and a team of Italian commandos, its general staff bragged on Facebook.

Ukraine is one of 20 nations taking part in the annual Saber Junction exercise in Germany’s Bavaria. On Wednesday evening, US and Italian C-130s airdropped some 1,000 paratroopers from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and allied forces behind ‘enemy’s lines’, according to Stars and Stripes. They then launched a nighttime attack.

But early on Friday morning the tide apparently turned for the paratroopers. According to the Ukrainian general staff, the 173rd lost its field HQ to a surprise attack by the Ukrainians, who ‘took out’ 32 people while ‘losing’ two of their own.

“American scouts are now trying to ‘avenge’ their troops. But no luck so far…” Ukrainian general staff said.

A total of some 5,500 troops are taking part in the exercise, which is meant to test NATO’s capacity for rapid deployment of airborne troops in Europe.

@USArmy Soldiers of 1-91 CAV are currently participating in #SaberJunction 18 in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Exercise Saber Junction 18 is a @USArmyEurope -directed exercise designed to assess the readiness of the U.S. Army's@173rdAbnBde to execute unified land operations. #US_EUCOMpic.twitter.com/z11x3tK4aH — U.S European Command (@US_EUCOM) September 19, 2018

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