Following a political agreement by Foreign Ministers on Monday 23 January, the Council adopted on Thursday 2 February two measures of assistance to Ukraine, in the framework of the European Peace Facility: the seventh tranche of assistance of €500 million and €45 million to support the training efforts of the European Union Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM Ukraine).
The assistance to EUMAM aims to provide the necessary non-lethal equipment and supplies as well as services to support training activities. The mission’s training target will be doubled from 15,000 to 30,000 troops. EUMAM will provide specialised training and technical instructions for the new equipment, including the Leopard 2 tanks.
“Tanks are going to require training, maintenance”, EU High Representative Josep Borrell told a small group of journalists, including EUROPE, adding that Ukraine should be sent “a large number of identical types (of tanks) to minimise the logical complexity” of their use, deployment and maintenance. The most numerous tanks in the EU are the Leopard. According to Borrell, the logistics and maintenance around the tanks would be “a big challenge for the Ukrainian army and for us”.
With these new measures, the total EU contribution under the EPF for Ukraine amounts to €3.6 billion. Borrell also recalled that Member States’ bilateral aid was about three times greater than these Facility funds. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)