2024-08-31 23:09:26
The defense ministers of EU member states have agreed to have military instructors from the bloc train up to 75,000 Ukrainian servicemen by the end of the year, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell said, quoted by Reuters.
Ministers met in Brussels to discuss the ongoing operation to train Ukraine’s military to defend against a full-scale Russian invasion. Borrell described the operation in question as “the most successful training mission that the EU has ever carried out”.
Trainings are held in Germany and Poland. The first diplomat of the EU indicated that 60,000 Ukrainian military personnel are currently being worked on, whose training will be completed by the end of this summer, with the EU aiming to increase their number by another 15,000 by the end of the year.
Defense ministers also discussed the possibility of extending the mission until 2026, pending a formal decision. A plan to conduct some of the training operations for military personnel on the territory of Ukraine was also commented on, but no agreement was reached on this issue, Borel pointed out. Instead, it was decided that the training would take place “as close as possible to Ukraine, but not on Ukrainian territory,” he added.
Today’s meeting was informal, which means that the defense ministers are not expected to make official decisions.
The issue of whether to allow Ukraine to use the weapons provided by the EU countries to attack targets on Russian territory was also discussed, writes BTA.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba yesterday urged the EU to speed up deliveries of ammunition and air defense systems, including US-made Patriot systems.
The Netherlands has promised to quickly assemble such a system for Ukraine, but Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans declined to give a timeline for its delivery for security reasons.