EU defense ministers may agree today on the principle of creating a European mission to train Ukraine’s military, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Several EU countries have been providing training to Ukrainian troops for some time, mainly to learn how to use weapons that Western countries are sending to Ukraine in an effort to help repel Russia’s invasion. “The situation on the ground is still very bad, ” Borrell said while attending the EU defence ministers’ meeting in Prague. “We will continue to support Ukraine with initiatives like this the education mission that the ministers will discuss”, he pointed out, while adding: “Today I believe that we will have a general, comprehensive political agreement (…) I hope that we will receive the political green light for this mission”.

Borrell himself has recently come out in favour of this training program, calling it “sensible”.

Six months ago, in the early stages of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EU foreign ministers considered the idea of ​​offering military training to the Ukrainian army as part of discussions on providing military aid to the country.

With the Czech Republic, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, holding the rotating EU presidency this semester and the situation on the ground completely changed, the proposal is back on the table.

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