Spain is willing to join the club of Western countries that train Ukrainian soldiers to defeat the Russian invader. This Wednesday, coinciding with Ukraine’s independence day, after criticism from the country’s ambassador for the lack of military cooperation offered by our country, the Ministry of Defense announced a new military aid package. “Includes a fully operational anti-aircraft missile system and is also offered for it”provide training in operation and maintenance”, according to the episode directed by Margarita Robles.
While details of this anti-aircraft battery were not provided, knowledgeable sources point to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, a newspaper belonging to the Prensa Ibérica group, and this media outlet. Aspide model. Produced by Selenia company in Italy. Although it doesn’t require many hours of training, it does have a radar seeker that needs efficiency in its management, strategic studies expert Yago Rodriguez told this paper.
In addition to this training on the specific use of this missile system, Margarita Robles offered: In a letter to his Ukrainian colleague, A training program for Ukrainian forces in Spain. “The preparation of Spanish trainers and different priority training modules for the Ukrainian Armed Forces is coordinated with an allied country,” the ministry said in a press release. Said. “This mission, if approved, could be included in the possible future mission of the European Union.”
After six months of war, it is known for the first time that Spain carried out an important program to improve the combat capabilities of Ukrainian soldiers. “Education is an important part of NATO countries’ assistance to Ukraine,” he told EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA. ICDS analyst Kalev Stoicescu. “In that sense, it’s good news that Spain is joining the big business that the UK, Poland, the United States or the Baltic countries are doing, training soldiers, officers and non-commissioned officers, or creating trainers who can then train more soldiers already in Ukraine”.
These programs are one of the strengths that allow the Kyiv army to be stronger in every way against the attacks of the Russian invader. And this intervention of modern Western armies worries Moscow. German counterintelligence services reported this Friday: Russian officials are spying in training centers
According to Spiegel, at least two suspicious vehicles and small drones were seen rapidly appearing and disappearing in two areas where these trainings were held in Germany.
One place is the Idar-Oberstein camp in the western Rhineland-Palatinate state. German Army teaches them to use self-propelled artillery Another of the Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzer type is the Grafenwoehr in Bavaria. There is the United States Army, which is developing Ukraine’s capabilities in the use of artillery systems.
UK example
“Two weeks ago these men were civilians. They will happen again one day, but we’re training them right now. So they’re ready to fight on the front lines”, read along with a tweet from the British Ministry of Defense on 20 August and a video of one of the training sessions.
Britain has been running a strong training program for Ukrainian soldiers for years. The UK has been training Ukrainian troops since Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, Hugh Elliott, the British ambassador to Spain, told this newspaper a few weeks ago. In these years, so-called Orbital Operation He trained 22,000 people.
Last June, a new training program began on British soil. between 2300 Ukrainian soldiers have already left Ready to declare war on Russia and with new abilities. According to the UK Ministry of Defense, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and Latvia have announced their participation in the initiative. The Netherlands has already said it will support the initiative.
London deployed more 1,000 members of the Armed Forces at various training camps in the UK. Courses last several weeks and in for volunteers with little or no military experience in the military ready for front line warfare: the use of weapons such as AK assault rifle varieties, first aid knowledge applied to the battlefield, survival techniques or patrol tactics, as well as the laws governing gunfight. They were provided with everything they needed to go directly to the front: helmets, body protection, winter uniforms, tools for digging trenches or other military equipment, as well as first aid equipment.
In gratitude for the “unconditional support for Ukraine’s freedom” from the United Kingdom, President Volodymyr Zelensky presented Boris Johnson on Thursday “highest award that can be given to a foreigner”, Order of Liberty. Defense Minister Ben Wallace underlined the importance of such programs in the “new phase” of his country’s support for Ukraine.
The United States does not give the total number of trained soldiers. The Ministry of Defense said on August 19 that there are several training initiatives underway in various European countries. “The US is particularly determined the creation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine together with the allied countries”. Over the years, high-ranking Ukrainian officers have also been trained at Fort Leavenworth base in Kansas.
Before the invasion began on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian Army consisted of 200,000 active soldiers. Deployed in Donbas, 40,000 of them occupied by pro-Russian forces. There are 900,000 people in the reserve, and about 7 million citizens aged 16-49 are eligible to join the army.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov last July An Armed Forces of one million soldierswas trained with the most modern tactics and equipped with NATO-standard weapons supplied by allied nations. Zelensky said he wants to reclaim every inch of 20 percent of the territory occupied by Vladimir Putin’s troops.