EU military mission to support Ukraine to be ‘up and running' in November

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) - A military assistance mission to support Ukrainian armed forces will be “up and running” in a month, said the EU foreign policy chief on Monday.

“I hope that by the middle of November though less than a month from now, we will have got the mission up and running,” Josep Borrell told reporters in Luxembourg following an EU foreign ministers meeting.

Earlier on Monday, the EU Council agreed to set up a military assistance mission to further support the Ukrainian army.

“The aim of the mission is to contribute to enhancing the military capability of Ukraine’s Armed Forces to effectively conduct military operations, in order to allow Ukraine to defend its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, effectively exercise its sovereignty and protect civilians,” an EU Council statement said.

Borrell did not provide details on how the 15,000 troops will be trained but said: “The 15,000 (soldiers) won't be all there at the same time on week one. That's not the aim and they're not going to be trained in a week.”

“But the idea is a minimum length of two years,” he added.

Earlier, Borrell said on Twitter that they will “raise EU military assistance to €3.1 billion ($3.04 billion) & launch the EU military training mission for #Ukraine.”

“Russia’s latest indiscriminate attacks will not shake our determination to support Ukraine, it will only reinforce it," he added.