Prepare New Aid For Ukraine: European Union Will Train 15 Thousand Kyiv Army, Budget 500 Million Euros For Weapons Shipments

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Thijs ter Haar)

JAKARTA - European Union foreign ministers are expected to agree on a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian troops starting next month, as well as an additional 500 million euros for arms shipments to Kyiv when they meet in Luxembourg on Monday.

Two senior EU officials said the military training would begin in mid-November and would take place on EU territory in Poland and Germany.

Previously, several EU countries had provided training on the operation of certain weapons for Ukrainian troops, with this program planned to continue.

The European Union has supported Kyiv since the start of the war with financial aid and, in a first for the bloc, military aid.

Foreign ministers will agree to add a further 500 million euros (486 million US dollars) in reimbursement for EU member states for weapons sent to Ukraine. This brings the total amount allocated for weapons to Kyiv to more than 3 billion euros.

Unlike the previous phase, the additional money will also cover costs for repairs and maintenance of weapons already delivered to Ukraine.

In addition to financial and military support, the European Union also provides support in the form of rejection and condemnation of the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, namely Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

"Russia threatens global security", read a joint statement by the member states, which condemned Ukraine's annexation of territory late last month.

The EU will not recognize the illegal referendum "which Russia engineered as a pretext to further violate independence.