The European External Action Service (EEAS) has forwarded a draft crisis management concept to the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union detailing the modalities of a potential EU training mission for the Ukrainian army in view of a forthcoming EU ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council meeting (see EUROPE 13010/1).
The “successful” counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army on multiple fronts against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “while encouraging, does not yet represent a turning point”, as “a prolonged war of attrition is likely to continue”, says the EEAS in a document dated Monday 19 September, a copy of which was made available to EUROPE. It said that in addition to the “considerable” military assistance that Ukraine had received from the EU and Western partners, the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to generate, train and replace manpower “may determine the future of the war”. And in this area, Ukraine’s needs are “significant and increasing”.
The EEAS thus suggests setting up an EUMAM military training mission to meet the “most urgent” Ukrainian needs in the following areas: (i) basic training, collective sub-unit and unit manoeuvre, organisation and tactics, (ii) medical, logistics and basic combat engineering, (iii) combined arms instructors training (light infantry basic skills) for Territorial Defence Forces of the UAF, (iv) cyber security and cyber defence and (v) Radiation, Chemical, Biological and Nuclear (CBRN) protection, (vi) equipment maintenance and repair training.
In order to respond to the “seriousness” of Russia’s war of aggression on the European continent, the EUMAM mission, which would initially last “two years”, should train “a very large number of personnel” from the Ukrainian armed forces. It is proposed that the main training centres of the future EU military mission be based in a pillar Member State neighbouring Ukraine, in order to facilitate logistical issues. In parallel, specialised training could take place in other EU countries.
See the draft crisis concept for the EUMAM mission: https://aeur.eu/f/397 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)