United to win: Latvia bolsters Ukrainian military training by over four times

Latvia has boosted Ukrainian military training by over fourfold.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported this.

What is the problem?

On September 30, 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky, Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament – ed.] Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk, and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal signed Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO.

Despite the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Defense continues to develop professional education in Ukraine's armed forces. One of the main priorities of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine remains the development of military education.

Several partner countries undertook to train the Ukrainian military in a safe city and according to NATO standards.

What is the solution?

At the meeting in Kyiv between the delegations from the Ministries of Defense of both countries, chaired by Ministers Rustem Umerov and Andris Spruds, it was discussed that the Baltic country had increased its military training for Ukrainian soldiers.

How does it work?

During the negotiations, the head of the Department of Doctrine and Individual Training of the Main Department of Doctrine and Training of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Mykola Huben, announced that starting from July 2022, with the assistance of the Latvian side, it was possible to train about 350 Ukrainian service members in several areas of training.

He added that in 2023, the volume of training with the participation of Latvia increased by more than four times, and by the end of the year, more than 1,500 Armed Forces soldiers will be trained.

Mykola Huben stated that these trainings significantly increase the quality of personnel. At the same time, the Ukrainian side proposes to consider the combat experience gained by the Ukrainian military in the further preparation process.

Latvia trains the Ukrainian military in the following areas:

• Basic military training,
• "officer-sergeant" leader training,
• engineer,
• shooter and others.

The Ministry of Defense wants to continue Ukrainian military training with Latvian instructors.

"It is proposed to train approximately 96 department commanders and 360 combat medics in 2024 with the participation of Latvia," said Mykola Huben.

For reference:

Great Britain supports Ukraine and will train 30,000 Ukrainian service members by the end of the year.

In addition, instructors from Australia, within the scope of the training operation, helped the Ukrainian military practice preparation for proactive actions during the passage of a psychological strip in the middle of dense forests.

In addition, under the leadership of Danish instructors, Ukrainian service members are trained in conducting positional combat operations: they practice preparing, capturing, and holding a position.

Also, in Canada, Ukrainian combat medics are trained with the addition of special effects.

It should be mentioned that there is limited information available regarding F-16 fighter pilot training; however, everything is progressing as planned. Furthermore, some pilots are already undergoing training even in the sky.