France has sent letters to the United States and about ten European countries with a proposal to take part in a training mission in Ukraine as part of a multinational "coalition of applicants". However, the United States, Germany, Italy and Spain opposed the exercise in Ukraine. This is reported by the publication Welt, reports UNN.
French President Emmanuel Macron plans to form a coalition within a few days to send Western military instructors to Ukraine
Several allies were invited to send their soldiers to the war zone to train their fighters.
"Several partners have already agreed, " Macron said over the weekend. "We are not alone, and we will form this coalition in the coming days.
The US government does not want to participate in this initiative. National Security Council communications director John Kirby said on Friday evening on the sidelines of US President Joe Biden's visit to France that Washington had made it clear from the very beginning that it did not want to send American soldiers to Ukraine. "This has been the case so far, and it will continue to be the case in the future," Kirby said.
According to the publication, last week the chief of the French General Staff, Thierry Burkhardt, sent a letter to the United States and about ten European countries, including the United Kingdom, Poland, The Netherlands, the three Baltic States, Denmark and Sweden, with a proposal to the relevant governments to take part in a training mission in Ukraine as part of a multinational "coalition of comers".
At the same time, Paris bypassed the German government: the Ministry of defense in Berlin did not receive an invitation letter. According to Welt, the coalition government has made it clear several times during internal negotiations in recent weeks that German soldiers will not take part in the training mission. However, the Americans have done this before-and still received an invitation.
Brussels diplomats report that Macron is still trying to organize a training mission under the auspices of the existing EU training mission in Ukraine (EUMAM). This will require a change in the mission's mandate.
However, this is quite possible: in any case, the mission will be reviewed in the summer and should continue in November. However, EU diplomats report that Brussels is resisting the ideas of Paris. Most EU countries oppose holding exercises in Ukraine.
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The governments of Germany, Italy and Spain, for example, fear that training on the ground could create a significant risk of escalation and further draw the West into the war in Ukraine. Hungary, in turn, at a meeting of EU defense ministers in late May, stressed that Ukraine no longer has a real chance of winning the war.
However, EU diplomatic circles also said that from a military point of view, there are good reasons for training Ukrainian soldiers in their own country. In this case, the training will more accurately meet the needs of Ukrainian soldiers, and they will not have to leave their country for training.