For some time, training Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel abroad was one of the key trends.
This was regularly highlighted in the news, showing how our soldiers were being trained in foreign training centres. However, it has now become clear that, in effect, the troops were being prepared for a war of the past.
The nature of warfare has changed. Today, we are witnessing a war in which unmanned systems play a decisive role. In this area, our partners are almost helpless, in the sense that they lack the experience that the armies of Ukraine or Russia now possess.
Therefore, large-scale training of soldiers abroad currently makes little sense, especially considering that our own instructors are fully capable of training infantry. This is the branch of the military that requires the greatest mobilisation resources. It is where the highest losses occur and where combat brigades must be constantly replenished.
At the same time, there are specialised areas such as air defence, electronic warfare, and technical maintenance. These specialists are likely to continue being trained abroad, as they are highly specialised personnel. This is particularly important given the technical specifics of, for example, Western air defence systems. Such specialists need to be trained where the equipment is, and therefore they will continue their training abroad.
As for concerns about whether European countries have become vulnerable to potential strikes on training centres, this has not been the case before and is unlikely to be now. There is no need to look for a black cat in a dark room, especially when it is not there. It is unlikely that anything would strike a training ground in Germany or the United Kingdom at present. Europeans are unlikely to have such concerns.
However, there is a pragmatic approach within Ukraine’s General Staff, which clearly understands that there is currently no point in training infantry for combat units in countries that lack real experience of modern warfare. Meanwhile, as mentioned, air defence operators, pilots, and technical specialists will, in all likelihood, continue to be trained abroad.
— Andriy Zolotaryov
