On Friday 30 August, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, announced that the EUMAM Ukraine military assistance mission would be training 15,000 more soldiers by the end of the year, bringing the total to 75,000 men and women since its creation in November 2022.
“We have trained 60,000 soldiers and the ministers have agreed to raise the target to 75,000, i.e. 15,000 more by the end of the year”, he announced at the end of the informal Council of European defence ministers in Brussels, calling it the most successful training mission ever undertaken by the European Union.
“We need to get the message across to Ukraine that when they have people to train, the EU has the capacity to train them. And that’s why we need to increase our options”, explained Estonian Minister Hanno Pevkur on his arrival at the Council meeting. According to a European source, the mission has the capacity to train even more soldiers and can adapt to Ukrainian demand. “It is particularly important that Ukrainian soldiers can be trained effectively, quickly and on a large scale”, stressed the Dutch minister, Ruben Brekelmans.
According to a European source, the ministers are in favour of extending the mission’s mandate, which expires in November. The European External Action Service has proposed a two-year extension. However, on his arrival at the EU Council, the Slovak minister, Robert Kaliňák, was cautious. “The number of trainees who complete this training is not the same as the number who start it”, he pointed out, arguing that this made the mission less effective.
No European training on Ukrainian soil
According to Mr Borrell, the training provided by EUMAM must develop, however, as the war requires adaptations. For example, “training must be shortened and adapted to Ukraine’s needs. We want to make it as effective as possible for Ukrainians”, he added. A draft strategic review of the EUMAM mission by the EU, dated 22 July and seen by Die Welt, criticises the lack of realism in the training of Ukrainian soldiers on EU territory, which is largely based on Western peacetime standards. Ukrainian soldiers therefore often have to be re-trained after their return. In addition, Ukrainian soldiers are absent for too long, are not be able to be deployed quickly enough, if necessary, and often have too little knowledge of the types of Soviet weapons most commonly used by Ukraine.
In order to ensure greater coordination with Ukraine and NATO, the High Representative has proposed that the Member States create a small coordination unit in Kyiv to make the work more effective. This proposal must still be agreed unanimously by the Member States.
Although the Ukrainians would have liked the training to take place in Ukraine itself, it will continue on EU soil. “Some Member States were ready [to train in Ukraine], others were reluctant, and in the end we decided to carry out the training as close to Ukraine as possible, but not on Ukrainian territory”, announced Mr Borrell. A European source pointed out that the notion of proximity should be taken in the broadest sense, as training courses could be continued not only in Poland, but also in Germany or even Spain. The EU will also be sending Ukraine equipment such as combat simulators.
According to the Polish minister, certain European countries could, under bilateral agreements, train Ukrainian soldiers on their soil. “We can imagine certain countries deciding to train Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine on the basis of a bilateral agreement. Poland is not one of them”, explained the Polish Deputy Defence Minister, Paweł Zalewski. France, followed by Lithuania, would be in favour of such training. For her part, the Spanish minister, Margarita Robles, publicly announced that her country would not be deploying trainers to Ukraine.
Europe has donated 650,000 rounds of ammunition through the ‘European Peace Facility’
The EU High Representative also announced that 650,000 of the one million rounds of ammunition that the EU promised to send to Ukraine by the end of the year had now been sent. “We are now at 65% of the initial target of one million rounds of ammunition”, he explained, adding that deliveries had accelerated over the summer. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)