Training is already underway
US trains Ukrainian soldiers in Germany
04/29/2022, 11:01 p.m
What Defense Minister Lambrecht announced in Ramstein on Tuesday is already taking place: Soldiers from the Ukraine are being trained on German soil in how to use various weapon systems. According to the Pentagon, training is already underway.
The United States is training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany and other locations on how to use military equipment. US Secretary of Defense spokesman John Kirby said on Friday that training on German soil had already begun. Among other things, it is about how to deal with howitzers and other weapon systems that Kyiv is getting to support the war against Russia.
Overall, the Ukrainian military is trained at several locations outside of Ukraine, including Germany, Kirby said. The US military is working with the German government on this. Kirby said he couldn’t comment on the other locations.
Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the US military withdrew its own forces from the country for security reasons. At the time, 160 members of the Florida National Guard were moved from Ukraine to another location in Europe as a precautionary measure. They had been to Ukraine to advise the armed forces there. Kirby said those Florida National Guardsmen are now being reassigned to train Ukrainian soldiers, just outside of Ukraine. The US is providing Ukraine with arms and ammunition on a large scale to support the country in the war against Russia.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht only announced on Tuesday that Ukrainian soldiers would be trained on artillery systems on German soil in the future. We are working on this “together with our American friends,” she said at a Ukraine conference in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate, initiated by the United States.