Borrell: EU plans to deploy a training mission for the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Ukraine At the end of August, a meeting of EU defense ministers will be held in Prague to discuss the creation of a training mission for the Ukrainian army. The Russian Foreign Ministry considered that they would “train terrorists and Nazi fighters” there for Kyiv ” media=”(max-width: 320px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), (max-width: 320px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)” >
< img class="aligncenter" src="https://s0.rbk.ru/v6_top_pics/media/img/4/10/756611700491104.jpg" alt="EU to study placement of training mission for Ukrainian Armed Forces in Eastern Europe" />< /p>
The Council of Ministers of Defense of the European Union next week will discuss a proposal to form a mission of “training and assistance” for the Ukrainian armed forces, it will be placed in a country neighboring Ukraine. This was stated by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell at a press conference in the city of Santander. It was broadcast on YouTube.
“It will be an important mission. Any mission must be at the level of conflict. This is not a small war, — said Borrell.
He stressed that the mission would not be deployed on Ukrainian territory. Borrell added that “many” Ukrainian troops are already undergoing training as France, the Czech Republic, Poland and the UK are transferring sophisticated weapons to Kyiv that require prior training.
An informal meeting of EU defense ministers is scheduled for August 29–30 in Prague.
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The European Union began considering the possibility of creating a military training mission in Ukraine at the end of last year, against the backdrop of rising tensions in the region. Die Welt wrote that the EU leadership sees this as an expression of solidarity with Ukraine, given the “continued military activity of Russia”; near the Ukrainian borders and in the Crimea. It was planned that the mission would be called the EU Military Advisory and Training Mission in Ukraine. (EU Military Advisory and Training Mission Ukraine, EUATM). Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia insisted on the creation of the mission. They were supported by Sweden and Finland.
The Russian authorities then criticized the EU initiative, considering the discussion of such a proposal “active PR”. “They also want to contribute to the training of, in fact, anti-Russian units,” — emphasized Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
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After Borrell's words at the end of August, the Russian Foreign Ministry reacted similarly. “We must call a spade a spade: the EU will create training bases for training terrorists and Nazi fighters for the Kyiv regime. A hundred years ago, Europeans also did not immediately figure out what fascism was. Then they understood, but it was too late, — wrote in Telegram the representative of the Ministry Maria Zakharova.
After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the EU countries repeatedly provided military assistance to Ukraine. By June, the total military assistance to Ukraine from the EU countries reached $2.1 billion, the United States became the leader in this matter— $25.5 billion, RBC calculated based on data from the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
By mid-July, the EU states agreed on several tranches of military assistance, the volume of the fifth amounted to €500 million. According to El País, the EC intends to create a platform for the joint purchase of weapons for the centralized replenishment of its arsenals in the context of providing military assistance to Ukraine.
At the end of May, Borrell expressed confidence that the EU should become military power, not just a trading bloc, explaining that soft power is not enough to solve problems. “It's not enough to have trade, it's not enough to have the rule of law, it's not enough to be a strong civil power,” stressed the head of European diplomacy.
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