On Sunday, the US military started the “new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces” on German territory, an American media outlet has cited General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as saying.
He reportedly said that the goal of the training is to get a battalion of about 500 servicemen “back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks,” amid Moscow’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine.
According to the general, the complex training, which will include “classroom instruction and field work,” is due to be combined with an array of new weapons, artillery, tanks and other vehicles heading to Ukraine from Western countries.
He added that it would be “ideal” if the newly trained forces are able to use all the incoming weapons and equipment “sometime before the spring rains show up.”
The media outlet reported that until now, the US Department of Defense had declined to say exactly when the training would begin. The outlet also noted that the more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops that had already purportedly been trained by US military instructors use and maintain “certain weapons and other equipment, including howitzers, armored vehicles and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS.”
The report comes after the Russian Embassy in Germany condemned Berlin's decision to send tanks and other military hardware to Ukraine earlier this month. The embassy pointed out that the speed with which Germany and the US coordinated the new military aid for Kiev "leaves no doubt that Berlin did it under serious pressure from Washington, acting in accordance with the destructive logic of transatlantic solidarity."
Russian diplomats also stressed that Berlin’s move shows that Western countries are not interested in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict, the embassy said.
"Through their [Western countries'] efforts, Ukraine has actually been turned into a firing range and the Ukrainian people into a tool to achieve the West's geopolitical interests, which in the end lead only to the prolongation of hostilities, pointless casualties and destruction," the embassy said.
The remarks came after a US media outlet quoted unnamed sources as saying in late November that the Pentagon plans to enlarge its combat training of the Ukrainian troops, including in Germany, where military exercises for up to 2,500 troops may be conducted on monthly basis.
Since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the US and its allies have been providing Kiev with humanitarian, military and financial aid. Moscow has denounced the flow of weapons to Ukraine, warning that it adds fuel to the fire.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeatedly noted that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry also cautioned that NATO countries “playing with fire" by providing Kiev with arms.