France invites several states to join military training efforts in Ukraine

Thierry Burkhard, the commander of the French General Staff, last week invited the governments of roughly a dozen Western states to participate in an international coalition's training mission in Ukraine. Source: Welt am Sonntag, as reported by European Pravda Details: The USA, the United Kingdom, Poland, the Netherlands, all of the Baltic states, Denmark, and Sweden were among the countries to which the invitation was extended.

According to diplomats in Brussels, President Emmanuel Macron is still attempting to set up training in Ukraine under the framework of the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM), an EU training mission.

However, the mission's mandate needs to be changed in order to do this. EU diplomats report that the Paris initiatives are met with resistance in Brussels. The majority of EU nations oppose conducting drills in Ukraine.

The governments of Spain, Italy, and Germany worry that small-scale drills in Ukraine could lead to a major escalation that would involve the West in the war. Hungary, for its part, stated during an EU defence ministers' conference in late May that Ukraine no longer has a realistic odds of winning the war. However, EU diplomatic circles have stated that there is a solid military justification for Ukrainian soldiers to be trained in their own country.

The training would be better suited to Ukrainian soldiers, and the military would not have to leave the state for training. The United States government does not wish to join in this endeavour. On Friday night, on the sidelines of President Joe Biden's visit to France, National Security Council representative John Kirby stated that Washington had made it clear from the start that it did not wish to send American troops to Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron stated that at least five other countries have agreed to send instructors to Ukraine to train the Ukrainian troops. "We decided to form a coalition, and several of our partners have already given their assent. We already know we will not be alone.

And we will use the next several days to build the broadest possible coalition to react to Ukraine's request," he said.

Last month, the media reported that Macron had formed a coalition of states willing to send military instructors to train Ukrainian soldiers directly in Ukraine.

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