Portugal will participate “with up to 20 military personnel” in the European Union (EU) military training mission to the Ukrainian army, which formally launched on Tuesday, Defense Minister Helena Carreiras confirmed in Brussels.
At the end of a meeting of EU ministers of Defence. that out the mission is currently being planned among 27, but he pointed out that Portugal has already identified the privileged training areas and confirmed the estimated participation of up to 20 military personnel🇧🇷
“We have analyzed the new EU mission in support of Ukraine, a military assistance and training mission, in which we are making progress in the respective organization. Portugal will participate with up to 20 soldiers, who will train Ukrainian soldiers,” he said.
Helena Carreiras pointed out that “this is the first EU training mission on European territory”, and that “it is currently being planned”, noting that “there are currently two locations where the mission headquarters will be, in Germany and in Poland – in the case of basic training in Poland, in the case of more specialized training in Germany”, emphasizing that no decision has yet been taken on the distribution of EU military personnel, something which he hopes will ” will be implemented” very soon”, he expected that there will be Portuguese soldiers in both countries.
Helena Carreiras revealed that there should also be “the possibility to offer training modules in several other countries as well” in the EU.
When asked if Portugal could host one of these training modules, the minister admitted yes, “if that is ultimately one of the possibilities, if it is appropriate in terms of the type of training in question”, in the same way she also admits Portugal’s ability to “participate with other countries in modules offered in other countries”.
“There is a possibility that we can work with Spain, but that is all being decided now,” he said.
Defined are the privileged training areas identified by Portugal, “namely basic training, shooting training, the medical sector and mine clearance”orphan.
On the other hand, recalling that the Portuguese authorities have long been aware of their availability to receive injured Ukrainians, Helena Carreiras revealed that “finally” there is “a request from Ukraine” for Portugal to to catch.
“We still don’t know how many, or in what situation, but of course we have reiterated our will and capacity to accommodate the injured. We will see what happens in the near future,” he stated.
On the day the Council of the European Union formally launched the military assistance mission to train up to 15,000 personnel in the Ukrainian Armed Forces – discussed today at the level of Defense Ministers, following approval by Foreign Ministers the day before – NATO General Jens Stoltenberg, who attended the working lunch with the 27, played down the fact that this training mission is only now starting, almost nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine last February.
Stoltenberg stressed that the Allies have been training Ukrainian forces since 2014, noting that “mainly the US, UK and Canada” have conducted “considerable training” in Ukraine itself since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea eight years ago, and the training has continued. outside Ukrainian territory – 10,000 staff have already been trained in the UK this year alone, he stressed – and often with the participation of countries that are members of the European Union.
NATO’s Secretary General defended the importance of more training, “because the Ukrainians are fighting a bloody and extremely challenging battle”, and therefore welcomed “the EU’s decision to launch a training mission for the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. emphasizing that this “complements what NATO allies have already done” and that, he argued, proved to be extremely important.
“Tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops have already been trained by NATO allies and this has helped Ukrainians face Russia’s invasion,” Stoltenberg said.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24 plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Source: DN
