By Alexandra Brzozowski | EURACTIV.com
13-10-2022
Up to 15,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel could be “initially” trained by next winter, and the number could increase significantly later, EU diplomats familiar with the matter said. [EPA-EFE/MYKOLA TYS]
Languages: Français | Italian
After months of delay, EU ambassadors struck a political agreement on Wednesday (13 October) on a military assistance mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel in several member states.
The political accord is set to be signed off by EU foreign ministers when they meet for their regular session next Monday in Luxembourg.
The EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) “would have to train large numbers of UAF (Ukrainian armed forces) personnel in a variety of military functions” outside of Ukraine, according to a proposal previewed to EURACTIV.
The EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell announced the idea for an EU military assistance mission in August, but it has been in the works since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, albeit with a different purpose.
Up to 15,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel could be “initially” trained by winter, and the number could increase significantly later, EU diplomats familiar with the matter said.
Several member states have, for the past months, been training Ukrainian forces individually, mainly enabling them to operate weapons they have delivered to the war-torn country.
The idea of the mission is to supplement the current training efforts of individual EU member states with additional offers and to better coordinate the training overall across the bloc.
The political agreement also includes the call for a EUMAM headquarters, for which Poland and Germany had earlier declared their host readiness, and several training centres in each EU member country providing training.
Germany is meant to provide specialised training such as demining and tactical operations, while Poland will offer multinational operational-level training on air defence, artillery, cyber, and medical support.
The Polish headquarters site is likely to be located at the country’s Southern border to Ukraine, near Rzeszów, which earlier this year became a military and humanitarian aid transport hub for supplies to Kyiv.
The delay in the mission’s political approval, however, had been caused by Berlin’s worries over Warsaw’s “too offensive attitude towards Russia” and questions on whether the country should assume such predominant weight on the “command and control” side of the mission, according to several EU diplomats.
It would have been “ridiculous” and “financially illogical” for logistical reasons, and due to training infrastructure already present in the country to look for another option in another, less-involved member state, one Western EU diplomat told EURACTIV.
“Their infrastructure and involvement, as well as cooperation with the Americans and Brits, has been so far significant in providing aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, why to change a winning team and create more bureaucracy,” another EU diplomat said.
The EUMAM is meant to be financed by the EU’s European Peace Facility (EPF), which has already been tapped for €2.6 billion to finance Ukraine’s purchase of military weapons and equipment from EU member states.
A new tranche of another €500 million is set to be agreed upon for Ukraine on Monday at the EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
Languages: Français | Italian