Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The Council of the European Union agreed on Monday to set up a mission to train at least 15,000 Ukrainian troops on EU soil as part of the Union efforts to aid Kyiv in its defence against the Russian invasion.
The EU High Representative Josep Borrell announced the move following the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, stressing that all Member states will participate in the programme, in addition to the aid individual EU countries are already providing.
“The first priority of the European Union is to support Ukraine facing this brutal invasion,” said Borrell after the meeting. “Putin is losing. Putin is losing politically and morally. In spite of that, he continues the escalation,” said Borrell, after previously noting that the Council heard Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba via videoconference, while he was in a bomb shelter.
“We agreed on establishing a European Union Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces, this will be happening on the European Union soil,” announced Borrell. “The Mission’s purpose is to train around 15,000 troops to start with. Maybe more, but the first objective is to train 15,000 troops.”
Specialised training
The ministers also agreed to provide another 500 million euro for financing of the Ukrainian military through the European Peace Facility, bringing the total amount pledged for this purpose so far to 3.1 billion euro.
The EU announcement comes two days after French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu announced that France will be training 2,000 Ukrainian troops on French soil. The troops will be trained on three levels: In general combat skills, in specific Ukrainian needs such as logistics, and in use of defence equipment provided by western countries.
The EUMAM mission will also provide “individual, collective and specialised training”, and will also be in charge of coordinating and synchronising the member states’ activities supporting the delivery of this training.
The Director-General of the European Union Military Staff, French vice admiral Hervé Bléjean, will be appointed Mission Commander, while the Operational Headquarters will be situated within the European External Action Service in Brussels.
Sanctions against Iran
Borrell also noted that the Ministers are “advancing in gathering evidence” when it comes to the reported use of Iranian self-destruct drones by Russian forces in Ukraine. “We are following very closely this use of drones,” said Borrell. “We are gathering evidence and we will be ready to react with the tools at our disposal.”
Regardless of the Iranian drone export issue, which remains to be confirmed by EU, the Council introduced fresh sanctions against 11 individuals and 4 entities in Iran, specifically those deemed to be tied to the death of Mahsa Amini and to violent repression of the protests that followed in the wake of her death.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on the Iranian government to immediately end the violence, to release those detained, and to allow normal internet services and flow of information,” Borrell said. “If needed, we are ready to add more names to this list.”
