European Union defense ministers could agree in principle to the creation of an EU military training mission for Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief said.
Several EU countries have been training Ukrainian troops individually for some time, mainly to enable them to operate the weapons that Western nations are handing over to Ukraine to help it fight the Russian invasion.
“The situation on the ground continues to be very bad,” said Josep Borrell upon arriving at a meeting of EU Defense Ministers in Prague.
“We will continue to support Ukraine with initiatives like this training mission that the ministers will discuss,” he said, adding: “A broad and general political agreement (on a joint training mission) is what I think we need to achieve today… I hope we get the political green light for this mission.”
It remains unclear where a broader EU training program might be based and what its mandate might be, and Mr. Borrell did not provide any details.
Later in the day, EU foreign ministers, also meeting in Prague, may agree to tighten visas for Russians and begin discussing a broader ban on tourist visas, although officials of the EU said there was no agreement on this.
“There is war in Europe and not far from here. Russia’s brutal aggression will be the most important topic of our meeting today,” Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova said.