EU will not train Ukrainian soldiers in Ukraine

At a meeting on Friday, 30 August, defence ministers of the European Union resolved to keep the military drills for the Ukrainian soldiers close to Ukrainian borders rather than moving them into Ukrainian territory.

Source: Borrell following the informal meeting of EU defence ministers, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Borrell noted that training on the territory of Ukraine makes sense, because the Ukrainian military will be closer to the battlefield. However, he acknowledged that the member states were divided on the issue.

Quote: "Finally, we decided that the training will be as close as possible to Ukraine, but not in Ukrainian territory," Borrell announced.

He stated that in order to ensure the best coordination between Ukraine and its partners in terms of conducting exercises, the European Union also consented to create a special communications centre in Kyiv.

Borrell added that a few EU nations that instruct the Ukrainian Armed Forces are geographically distant from Ukraine, but noted that they're performing admirably, so maybe the distance is not the issue.

Background: 

• In October 2022, the European Union established the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) to assist in training Ukrainian soldiers.
• EUMAM training is currently taking place primarily in Poland and Germany, but according to sources, the European Union is considering transferring some of the training to Ukraine's territory.
• Previously, it was reported that the EU diplomatic service urged member countries to better tailor the Ukraine military training mission to the needs of Kyiv, but did not advocate for deploying military instructors to Ukraine.

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