EU promises to train another 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers by this summer

A further 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers are to be trained in the European Union by the end of the summer, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.

Together with the soldiers already trained, this will bring the total number to 60,000, Borrell said following a meeting of the bloc's defence ministers in Brussels.

Germany plans to train a further 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers this year as part of the broader EU military training mission, the country's state secretary for defence, Siemtje Möller, said earlier in the day.

Established in November 2022, the EU military mission originally planned to train up to 15,000 soldiers in Germany, Poland and other EU countries.

This target was later increased. To date, around 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained via the EU mission.

In Germany, Ukrainian soldiers receive instruction to use Patriot air defence systems, Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 battle tanks, the Marder infantry combat vehicles as well as medical training and military instruction.