‘Broad support’ to train soldiers in Ukraine after truce

Many European Union countries support training Ukrainian military personnel – also on Ukrainian soil – once a ceasefire is reached with Russia, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Friday.

“I welcome that there is a broad support today to expand our EUMAM military mission mandate to provide training and advice inside Ukraine after any truce,” Kallas said on the margins of a meeting of EU defence ministers in Copenhagen.

Kallas did not provide any details on how many member states back the plans. Changing the mandate of the current EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine) would, however, require the unanimous approval of the EU’s 27 member states.

The bloc has been training Ukrainian soldiers since 2022, including in Germany. So far 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers received training from EU member states, Kallas said.

The EU foreign affairs chief admitted that a ceasefire “is not close if you look at what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is doing.”

She was referring to heavy Russian airstrikes on Kiev this week which killed more than a dozen people, including children, and damaged the EU’s diplomatic office in the Ukrainian capital.

Training Ukrainian military personnel in Ukraine and boosting the country’s defence industry could be part of European post-war security guarantees for Ukraine, in addition to commitments by individual member countries.