New combat tactics will be taught. US to expand training program for Ukrainian military in Germany – NYT
The Pentagon is expanding the training provided by the US military to Ukrainian troops. From the beginning of 2023, the United States will train twice as many Ukrainian forces at a base in Germany.
This is reported by The New York Times with reference to two American officials.
The expanded training, which President Biden approved this week, will allow U.S. instructors to train a Ukrainian battalion – about 600 to 800 troops – each month starting early next year, the officials said.
The Americans currently train an average of about 300 Ukrainian defenders per month.
Under the expanded program, U.S. instructors will train large groups of Ukrainian soldiers in more advanced combat tactics, including “team training,” such as coordinating ground infantry maneuvers with artillery support, the newspaper said.
The new training regime will be held at the U.S. Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, where the Pentagon conducts its own joint military exercises.
It is noted that Ukrainian officials are wary of taking too many troops off the front line for special training. But as winter slowed the pace of fighting in many areas, the Ukrainian side approved the expansion of the program.
From 2015 to earlier this year, U.S. military instructors trained more than 27,000 Ukrainian soldiers at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center in western Ukraine near Lviv, Pentagon officials said. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion began, the United States withdrew 150 military instructors.
A few months after the outbreak of the great war, the United States and other Western countries began training Ukrainian troops in Germany and Poland.
In addition, the United Kingdom launched a military training program for 10,000 Ukrainian troops aimed at strengthening resistance to the Russian invasion. Subsequently, other countries, including Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand, joined the initiative
