EU to Expand Ukrainian Military Training by 15,000

Participants in the EU Defense Ministerial Council meeting agreed to increase the number of Ukrainian military personnel to be trained in the EU.

EU High Representative Josep Borrell said that the training mission would be increased by 15,000 people by the end of the year, according to Ukrinform news agency.

This increase will bring the total number of trained soldiers to 75,000.

“As for our military assistance mission, EUMAM, it was a great success. It is the most successful training mission the EU has ever carried out,” said Josep Borrell.

He emphasized that the EU aims to make the training mission as “pragmatic” as possible and to simplify access to it for Ukrainian military servicemen as much as possible.

At the same time, the EU plans to involve Ukrainian instructors in the training and intends to ensure strong coordination of the mission’s activities with both Ukraine and NATO.

To this end, Borrell proposed to establish a small coordination center in Kyiv.

This will allow for direct coordination with the relevant instructors.

“This will not be an EU executive mission in Ukraine, on its territory. It will be a coordination structure in Kyiv that aims to increase efficiency,” Borrell said.

The EUMAM mission was established in October 2022 to help train Ukrainian military personnel.

As part of this mission, exercises take place mainly in Poland and Germany, and less often in Belgium, but according to media reports, the EU is discussing moving some of the training to Ukraine.

This mission also became part of the Ukraine Treaty, which was signed at the NATO summit in Washington in July 2024.