Members of the U.S. and Ukrainian armed forces shake hands during a training exercise in Hohenfels, Germany, in 2018.(JAMAR MARCEL PUGH/U.S. ARMY NATIONAL GUARD/DVIDS)

The Pentagon announced Friday that elements of the Florida National Guard had resumed their training mission with the Ukrainian military for the first time since Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered their withdrawal in the days before the Russian invasion in February.

 Based now in Germany and at two other locations the Pentagon on Friday refused to specify, the trainers will continue the 8-year-old mission that previously took place at a base outside the western Ukrainian city of Lviv by other deployed Guard units along with soldiers from the militaries of the U.K., Canada, Latvia and other allied countries.

Though not a dramatic policy shift in itself – U.S. trainers as of this month were already working with their Ukrainian counterparts at facilities outside Ukraine to teach them on new weaponry the Biden administration is sending into the conflict zone – the move represents a symbolic evolution in the resurging U.S. support for Ukraine despite the omnipresent risk of provoking Russia into expanding its war.

 Indeed, the Guardsmen and Ukrainian soldiers had an “emotional” reunion after the mission restarted, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday afternoon.

“We should not forget the importance of this long-term training relationship,” Kirby said. The training, formed in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and occupation of eastern Ukraine in 2014, “really helped transform them off of Soviet-era doctrine and Soviet-era formation.”

The Guardsmen will continue training their Ukrainian counterparts on bases elsewhere in Europe for at least the immediate future in keeping with President Joe Biden’s policy of no direct U.S. military involvement inside Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.

The Pentagon and other elements of the U.S. government have repeatedly cited the training as among the reasons the Ukrainian military has presented a defense against the Russian invaders that appears to have surprised the Kremlin and Washington alike.

And it comes as the two-month war in Ukraine appears poised for a seismic shift. Western officials privately express concern about how Russia will proceed with its new focus on eastern Ukraine, a region known as the Donbas, which has proven to be more burdensome and deadly than expected for the troops loyal to President Vladimir Putin despite supposed geographic and logistical advantages.

Kirby said Friday that Russia appears to be behind in its plans to encircle the embattled Ukrainian forces there, which have proven much more effective at killing the invaders than Moscow expected.

“They tend to have high mrale going in,” Kirby said of the Russian troops. “First contact with the enemy, that morale is shattered.”

Analysts expect the war will soon settle into one of attrition as heavy artillery and shelling from Russian territory squares off against new equipment on the Ukrainian side, specifically new long-range howitzer cannons that the U.S. and other countries are supplying and on which Ukraine’s soldiers are now training with the Guard.

The U.S. also fears the growing ruthlessness of the Russian offensive in Ukraine which increasingly uses unguided “dumb” munitions to attack targets as its supplies dwindle. Kirby, known for his staid demeanor at the podium, grew emotional during Friday’s press conference when discussing the effect – the “depravity” – of how Putin has chosen to wage war.

“I don’t think we fully appreciate the degree to which he would visit that kind of violence and cruelty, and as I said, depravity on innocent people, on non-combatants, on civilians, with such utter disregard for the lives he was taking, the lives he was flinging into refuge,” Kirby said, pausing for long moments between his statements. “There’s not even an attempt by Russia to be precise in their targeting.”

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