The EU called for training 100 thousand Ukrainian troops by the end of summer

The EU spoke about increasing the number of Ukrainian soldiers who are trained in the EU/Channel 24 Collage (photo by Valentina Polishchuk and from open sources)

The European Union must increase the number of Ukrainian military personnel who have been trained in the EU. The number of soldiers should be up to 100 thousand.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur stated this, the correspondent reports 24 Channel in Brussels.

The European Union called for an increase in the number of trained troops

Estonian Defense Minister welcomed the decision to increase training missions from 40 thousand to 60 thousand by the end of summer 2024. However, according to Pevkur, this is not enough.

Russia is exerting a lot of pressure. This means that we need to incur even greater expenses. “I think it’s okay to send a very clear signal that we will increase the number of Ukrainian soldiers who are undergoing training to 100 thousand if the Ukrainians send them for training,” Pevkur said.

At the same time, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Defense Josep Borrell called the EU training mission “very successful.” He emphasized that the European Union is ready to allocate money for this from the European Peace Fund.

“Of course, Ukraine wants to increase conscription, wants to increase the number of troops. A soldier without training is a useless soldier. A soldier without training is simply killing people without any support in battles,” explained Borrell.

Ukraine and France are negotiating the arrival of instructors

• Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Alexander Syrsky noted on May 27 that France could send instructors to train our military personnel. This became known following the results of a video meeting between Syrsky and Umerov with the Minister of the French Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu.
• Syrsky noted that he had already signed documents that would allow the first French instructors to soon visit Ukrainian training centers and become familiar with their infrastructure and staff. He also expressed hope that France’s determination encourages other partners to join this ambitious project.
• However, the French Ministry of Defense subsequently clarified that the decision to send instructors to Ukraine has not yet been made , and discussions with Paris and other countries are still ongoing. At the same time, the French Ministry of Defense has already begun internal work on the relevant documents on this issue, so as not to waste time on coordinating bureaucratic issues when the final decision on instructors is made.