KYIV: Kyiv’s army chief Oleksandr Syrsky said on Monday that the first French military instructors would soon arrive in the war-battered country.

Syrsky made the announcement after he and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov took part in a video call with French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

“I have already signed the documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centres soon and get acquainted with their infrastructure and personnel,” Syrsky said on social media.

“I welcome the initiative of France to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen,” he added. France’s defence ministry said the issue was being studied but did not confirm the deployment of instructors.

“Training on Ukrainian soil is one of the projects discussed since the conference on support for Ukraine convened by (French President Emmanuel Macron) on February 26,” it said.

“Like all projects discussed on this occasion, this continues to be the subject of work with the Ukrainians, in particular to understand their exact needs,” it added. France does not officially have military personnel assisting or training Ukrainian forces in Ukraine.French President Emmanuel Macron has opened the door to sending troops to Ukraine and at a conference in Paris on Feb 26 suggested that one area Western troops could help with would be to train Ukrainians in Ukraine.

In a statement, France’s Defence Ministry said: “As already mentioned several times, training on Ukrainian soil is one of the projects discussed since the conference on support for Ukraine convened by the President of the Republic on Feb 26.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2024