Belgian Minister of Defence Ludivine Dedonder on Thursday received eight young soldiers from the Odesa naval base in southern Ukraine, Le Soir reports. These troops will become guests of the Belgian army and receive extensive training in the use of underwater mine clearance drones that Belgium has already supplied to Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was originally scheduled to greet the Ukrainian soldiers upon their arrival in Belgium at the Melsbroek military airport on Thursday evening, but the president’s busy schedule forced him to cancel at the last minute.
The soldiers will undergo an intensive week-long training session, giving them an accelerated education in underwater mine clearance and the use of drones. These are the first students of many. In the coming months, other colleagues will travel to Belgium to receive training in a variety of specialisations.
Taking part, from afar
“These trainings are part of a European mission in which Belgium takes part, like other allied countries which support Ukraine against Russian invaders,” explained Dedonder. “While welcoming them, I wanted to congratulate these young soldiers for their courage. Through these training sessions, we are in the business of making things happen. We provide various types of equipment and it is normal to provide additional training for their use.”
In total, the Belgian Army has identified 32 different training courses that it could offer visiting Ukrainians troops. For now, the minister says, the army will offer 18 specialised courses, including training for snipers as well as engineering, mine clearance, medical training, infantry, as well as protection against chemical, bacteriological, or nuclear attacks.
“If (the courses) are short, it is so that the soldiers are operational quickly and don’t have to be absent for too long,” the minister said.
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Several hundred Belgian soldiers will provide the training courses to the Ukrainian troops. Over the next few months, small groups of Ukrainian soldiers will be housed in Belgian barracks. There is also the possibility that Belgian military trainers will travel closer to the Ukrainian border to provide training in neighbouring countries to Ukrainian troops.
During the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv on 3 February, the EU announced that it will double the number of Ukrainian troops that it is planning to train to 30,000 as part of the EU’s €16 million training scheme – the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine).
