EU plans to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers, - Spiegel
The EU wants to make the Ukrainian army more effective with the help of a training mission. In recent weeks, EU member states agreed at the working level that up to 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers should undergo training outside the country as soon as possible.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to Spiegel.
According to diplomats involved in the negotiations, 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers must undergo special training, such as tactical combat training for commanders or courses for engineers.
The plans for the mission, which EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell proposed at the end of August, should be determined already in mid-October. According to EU diplomats, then everything can go very quickly. So far, individual EU countries have trained Ukrainians as part of bilateral projects. The Bundeswehr in Germany trained teams for weapons systems supplied by Berlin, such as the Panzerhaubitze2000 or the Gepard anti-aircraft system.
If the EU approves the mission, which will be given the somewhat cumbersome name "European Union Military Assistance Mission" or abbreviated EUMAM, then the activities of individual states will be combined, which will make it possible to improve coordination.
During the discussion of this mission, disagreements arose regarding planning details. Poland proposed to create a kind of central training camp for Ukrainians near the border with Ukraine. According to the military, the Poles wanted to train entire combat groups up to a battalion there. Germany, meanwhile, does not think too highly of the central training center. The Bundeswehr says that setting up a large training camp in Poland alone would take a long time, and that such a camp would have to be carefully secured against possible espionage by Russian intelligence services, as well as possible attacks or sabotage.
As a result, a compromise was found at the working level. It is assumed that the Poles will create something like a small headquarters, in military slang called "force headquarters", and will receive EU funds for this. Instead of a central training camp, individual courses should be organized in EU countries.
The final details of the EUMAM mission are to be agreed in Brussels next week. Then a decision on the project should be made at the next official meeting of the EU Council on October 17.
