Defmin: Ukrainian soldiers to be trained in Estonia as part of EU mission

  • 2022-11-15
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – At a discussion on the launch of the European Union Military Assistance Mission in Support of Ukraine (EUMAM), which was central to a meeting of European Union defense ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, EU member states were called to provide training to the Ukrainian defense forces throughout the territory of the EU.

"We welcome the launch of the EU training mission and we are of course ready to contribute to it. We have already started training Ukrainian soldiers in Estonia and will continue to train Ukrainian soldiers in the territory of Estonia in the framework of the European Union mission," Estonia's Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.

The ministers discussed the fiscal sustainability of the European Peace Facility, which has been used to provide money for assistance to Ukraine.

"We urgently need to agree on an increase in the budget of the European Peace Facility, and this decision must be made already this year. The European Peace Facility must double to at least 10 billion euros to support Ukraine in the war," the Estonian minister said.

In addition, the defense ministers discussed the EU's military presence in the Sahel region of Africa. Estonia supports progress with the new EU military partnership mission in Niger, which would meet Niger's request and the training needs of its defense forces. 

On the fringes of the EU ministerial meeting, Pevkur met with Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles to discuss defense cooperation and the priorities of both countries ahead of the next NATO summit in Vilnius in 2023.

Spain has contributed to NATO's Baltic air policing, is one of the founding members of the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn and is also part of the NATO battle group in Latvia.