EU foreign policy chief expects agreement on Ukraine training mission

BRUSSELS

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday he hopes EU defense ministers will give the green light for a military training mission for Ukraine.

Borrell spoke on the way to the informal meeting of EU defense ministers hosted in Prague by the Czech government which assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in July.

“Today, I hope (we) will have a green light, a political agreement for this mission,” Borrell told reporters about the latest proposal on sending EU military training mission to Ukraine.

According to Borrell, the high-level EU mission would give “more value added in order to be more predictable and to provide a stronger support” to the Ukrainian army.

He also admitted that “certainly, Russia would not be happy with the idea” but argued that there is no difference between providing military equipment and training.

Borrell also stressed that the bloc must continue providing help for Ukraine because “the situation on the ground is very bad.”

He went on to say that Russia plays “nuclear gambling” at the Zaporizhzhia power plant which is “very dangerous.”

For his part, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks also said he expects “less talk and more decision” from his colleagues.

He stressed that the bloc should provide “even more support for Ukraine so that Ukraine can win.”

Pabriks also asserted that EU countries that are “the largest supporters of Ukraine” require more funding.

He said he hopes that the bloc can also go forward with joint military procurements “because times has changed since we had a legislation of early ‘90s” and “we need to recover our military hardware and capabilities.”

The Czech EU presidency's event will continue on Wednesday with an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Since the beginning of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the bloc has provided a total of €2.5 billion ($2.5 billion) in military aid, including lethal weapons, as well as personal protective gear, first aid kits, and fuel.

It has also imposed seven sanctions packages, targeting, among others, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, banning gold, oil, and coal imports, and the export of luxury goods, as well as excluding Russian and Belarusian banks from the SWIFT international payment system.