Northern Macedonia secretly trains first group of Ukrainian soldiers

North Macedonia has become the second Balkan country after Romania that successfully completed a training programme of the first group of Ukrainian soldiers. The information about the training was kept secret up until now for security reasons. Source: Slavjanka Petrovska, Defence Minister of Macedonia, in an interview for the Macedonian Television national TV-channel, as reported by European Pravda with reference to Balkan Insight

Details: According to the minister, the training was conducted "at the facilities, which belong to the army of the Republic of North Macedonia, under a corresponding decision of the government".

She added that North Macedonia, which had become a NATO member in 2020, would continue training Ukrainian soldiers in 2024 and for "as long as it takes". Petrovska did not specify which kind of training the soldiers had undergone, or how many soldiers were or would be trained. This training makes North Macedonia the second Balkan country after Romania that offered military grounds on its territory for training Ukrainian soldiers.

Romania suggested that Ukraine use its bases for lodging foreign instructors who would train Ukrainian soldiers in the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion. This November, it opened a training centre for Ukrainian pilots who will train to fly the F-16 fighter jets supplied by the West. In August, Greece also offered its help in training Ukrainian soldiers on the F-16s but not on its territory.

Slovenia joined the training programme in 2022 but sent its instructors to a training ground in Germany. Croatia considered the possibility to open its bases for training of Ukraine's Ground Forces but this step was blocked by the Croatian President. Background:

• Since the beginning of the war, North Macedonia has sent 10 batches of military aid to Ukraine and is considered one of the biggest suppliers of equipment among Ukraine's allies, taking into account its size and population of a little less than 2 million people.
• A small country which is now replenishing its stocks with Western equipment has sent about 30 Soviet T-72 tanks, 12 Soviet Mi-24 attack helicopters and four Su-25 attack aircraft.

  All this, ironically, was bought from Ukraine in 2001.

• North Macedonia also joined the declaration of the leaders of the G7+ group about security commitments concerning Ukraine.

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