EU Expected to Greenlight Training Mission for Ukraine Troops With Hubs in Poland, Germany

Ukraine and European Union flags hang together on the exterior of the building prior to an extraordinary plenary session on Ukraine at the European Parliament in Brussels, Tuesday, March 1, 2022The West not only imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow over its special military operation in Ukraine, but also provided military and technical assistance to the Kiev regime, with the US, Canada, New Zealand, and individual European countries – such as Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK and others – training Ukrainian soldiers.European Union Foreign Ministers are expected to give the green light at their meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, to a mission to train around 15,000 Ukrainian troops, media reported.“We must continue to help Ukraine. The most important matters are the new tranche of aid to Ukraine and the training mission. I hope everyone approves,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, told reporters upon arrival in Luxemburg.Basic training is initially to be provided to 12,000 soldiers, with specialized instruction to 2,800 more, according to the reports.

"Everyone in the EU will do what they can do corresponding to the needs of Ukrainians," the diplomat told the AFP newswire, adding that the plan presupposed a budget of some 60Mln euros annually.

It has been suggested that the military training, the final details of which are still being hammered out, will start in mid-November and take place on EU territory. Poland would serve as a location for the main hub of the mission, with Germany also a key staging post for training, according to two senior EU officials cited by the newswire. Previously, only individual EU countries had offered such training for Kiev.”It’s a big first for the EU. We’ve never done a training mission of that scope,” a European diplomat was cited as saying.Training programs run at present by individual European states will continue independently until they are incorporated into the EU mission at a later stage. How to move the soldiers from Ukraine into EU territory is an aspect of the mission that has yet to be finalized, said the report.WorldWhich Countries Train Ukrainian Soldiers?12 October, 17:28 GMTThe ministers of the EU bloc’s 27 members states are also likely to earmark an extra 500Mln euros ($486Mln) to a fund that reimburses EU member states for arms delivered to Ukraine.The “European Peace Facility” is an off-budget funding mechanism for EU actions with military and defense implications. Together with the new funding, the total amount set aside for arms deliveries to Kiev would exceed 3Bln euros.Unlike previous tranches, the additional money will also cover costs for repair and maintenance of weapons already funneled to Ukraine.Moscow has repeatedly rebuked the West for supplying weapon to Kiev, warning that western countries “are playing with fire”. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that “any weapon [and] any arms shipment to the Ukrainian territory” would be considered “a legitimate target” by the Russian military.”The budget for seven years has been spent in seven months, so come on, we really mean business,” said an unnamed EU official.© Sputnik / Stringer / Go to the mediabankCanadian instructors train Ukrainian service persons as part of UNIFIER operation at Yavorivsky training range in the Lviv Region.Canadian instructors train Ukrainian service persons as part of UNIFIER operation at Yavorivsky training range in the Lviv Region. / Go to the mediabankBesides the United States, Canada and the UK, which have already been training thousands of Ukrainian troops, several individual EU nations, such as Germany and France, have been training Ukrainians to use the modern artillery systems, missile launchers and air defenses they have delivered to Kiev. London, for example, is aiming to train 10,000 in 2022, and plans to double the number next year. But despite continuing for months, discussions about providing large-scale EU training hit a stumbling block as many members of the EU were wary of the initiative.Russia’s Special Operation in UkraineFinland to Send About 20 Military Instructors to UK to Train Ukraine’s Troops8 August, 14:35 GMT

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