The EU has reached agreement on the contours of a big military mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel in several member countries, diplomats said Wednesday.
A political accord was struck at a meeting of member state ambassadors in Brussels that one ambassador said will be put to a meeting of EU foreign ministers next Monday in Luxembourg.
The idea of the EU mission was announced in August by the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
A working document on the subject seen by AFP said the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM) “would have to train large numbers of UAF (Ukrainian armed forces) personnel in a variety of military functions”.
Two diplomats, speaking, like the others, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said EUMAM should “initially” train 15,000 Ukrainian armed forces personnel.
The agreement calls for a EUMAM headquarters and training centres in each EU member country providing training, one of the diplomats said.
Poland and Germany have declared their readiness to be part of the mission, the two diplomats said.
EUMAM is to be financed by the EU’s European Peace Facility.
That fund has already been tapped to the tune of 2.5 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to finance Ukraine’s purchase of military weapons and equipment from EU countries.
A new tranche, of another 500 million euros, is to be agreed for Ukraine on Monday at the foreign ministers’ meeting.
