EU member states will likely continue training Ukrainian soldiers to fight Russia after the current program expires later this year, Semafor reported on Thursday, citing the mission’s chief.
There is “consensus” among states involved that the training program will be extended by another two years, German Colonel Niels Janeke, who leads the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine), told the US news outlet. Another German officer overseeing the initiative, Lieutenant Colonel Roland Bosker, said training plans had already been prepared for 2025 and 2026.
But the final decision has yet to be taken by the European Council, the report added. A European official said on condition of anonymity that talks on the proposed prolongation are “in the final stretches,” indicating that Hungary was an obstacle. Budapest has criticized Brussels’ approach to the Ukraine conflict and has refused to provide any military assistance to Kiev.
The training program was launched in 2022, with 24 member states currently participating, according to the EU’s press service. The mission is predominantly hosted by Germany and Poland, with more than 60,000 Ukrainians reported to have completed the courses so far.
Ukrainian soldiers are not only taught how to fight by Western instructors, but are also equipped at the EU’s expense, with the funding coming through the European Peace Facility, a joint mechanism used to pay for weapons requested by Kiev.
The quality of the training has been questioned by some of the trainees, who told journalists that the classes do not take into account the intense nature of the actual fighting against Russian forces.
The EU’s foreign policy service, the EEAS, recommended as early as in July extending the mission by two years beyond its mid-November deadline, according to a document, which was first reported by the German newspaper Die Welt in August. According to the leak, officials in Brussels deemed the option preferable to organizing the training on Ukrainian soil, which would require sending NATO troops to the country.
The suggestion to send soldiers from NATO nations into Ukraine was floated by French President Emmanuel Macron, who urged other Western leaders in February not to rule out his idea. Some senior officials, including Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, have supported having a training mission in Ukraine, but other EU countries said they will not deploy their troops to the country.
There are other programs for Kiev’s military hosted by EU member states. Earlier this week, Macron showcased training that Ukrainian troops receive from French military personnel at a facility in the Grand Est region of northeast France.