EU, Germany to train up to 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers until spring

BERLIN (AA) – The EU and Germany will train up to 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers until spring, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Thursday.

Addressing lawmakers ahead of today’s EU leaders summit, Scholz said European countries will step up their military support for Ukraine after Russia’s recent attacks.

“European Union foreign ministers have decided on a new training mission for about 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers in the EU. One of the two headquarters is going to be in Germany,” Scholz said.

“And until spring, we’re going to train a full brigade with up to 5,000 soldiers. By this, we’re underscoring our readiness to provide long-term support to build up the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” he added.

Scholz condemned Russia’s recent military strikes, and said “deliberate attacks on the civilian population are war crimes.”

He also underlined that Germany will continue sending arms to Ukraine to help the country strengthen its defense against new attacks.

“In June, we promised to send modern air defense systems to Ukraine,” Scholz said, referring to the IRIS-T air defense batteries.

“We delivered the first one of them to our Ukrainian friends last week, earlier than originally planned. Three more will follow as soon as possible,” he said.