The European Union wants to speed up the training of Ukrainian soldiers, to reach 75,000 by the end of the year. To improve the efficiency of the process, it has decided to create a “coordination cell” in kyiv. But, for the moment, it will continue training them outside Ukraine, as there is no consensus among the Twenty-Seven to carry out this process on Ukrainian territory, announced the High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security, Josep Borrell, at the end of an informal meeting of defense ministers in Brussels.
“We want this mission to be as easy and pragmatic as possible for the Ukrainians,” Borrell said. “To ensure stronger coordination with Ukraine and NATO, I have proposed, and the States have agreed, to establish a small coordination cell in Kiev that will allow us to coordinate directly with the other relevant actors,” he said. The cell, which will be made up of no more than five or six European military experts, could be ready in September. In any case, in time to accelerate the training of Ukrainian soldiers, whose number the EU has also agreed to increase: 60,000 have already been trained and the 27 aim to have 75,000 by the end of the year.
The training will take place “as close to Ukraine as possible”, but not on Ukrainian territory, as there is no agreement to take this step, Borrell admitted. Sending trainers to Ukraine is a proposal initially launched by France. Despite the initial general rejection, it is now supported by some governments such as Sweden, but it continues to be viewed with suspicion by many capitals, including Madrid.
“Spain does not share this view (…) This mission will continue to be carried out in Spain, within Spanish territory, and trainers will not be deployed in Ukraine,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles confirmed to reporters in Brussels.
The member states have also failed to reach a common position on kyiv’s request to allow it to use donated weapons to attack “legitimate” military targets on Russian territory. Since defence is a national competence, it will ultimately be up to each capital to decide whether to authorise it or not, added Borrell, one of the voices in favour of such a change.
“The military platforms from which Russia attacks cities and electrical infrastructure throughout Ukraine should no longer be a sanctuary from which Russia attacks Ukraine. I still think that [atacarlos] “It is part of Ukraine’s legitimate right to self-defence,” Borrell said at the end of the informal meeting of ministers. However, he acknowledged that the Member States have decided that it is a “bilateral decision of each country that supplies weapons to Ukraine, particularly long-range weapons”. “It remains a national policy and the States want it to be a national decision,” he added.
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However, Borrell has lashed out at those who have criticised the proposal, such as the Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, who the day before compared the proposal to going to war with Moscow. “It is ridiculous,” Borrell rejected on Friday. “This is not being at war with Moscow, we support Urania, but we are not at war with Russia,” he retorted.
The discussion on whether to allow Kiev to use the weapons and military equipment being sent to it to attack military targets on Russian territory is not new either. Borrell already raised it at the end of May with the Twenty-Seven, some of whom were receptive to an idea also put forward by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The Ukrainian counteroffensive in Kursk has now reopened it and yesterday, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba – invited to the meeting of his European colleagues in the Belgian capital – again urged the European allies to take the “bold decision” to allow them to use the donated weapons “so that Ukraine can attack legitimate military targets in Russia”.
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