France has trained some 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the French Defense Ministry announced on Thursday.
These training courses, provided “either in France or in Poland,” have focused on the handling of particular equipment such as France’s Caesar self-propelled howitzers, specific tasks such as demining or tactical security, and more general skills such as training in joint combat, the French ministry reported.
The training courses provided by the West for the Ukrainian army come on top of the numerous equipment deliveries Ukraine has received since the beginning of the conflict with Russia. However, these deliveries have tended to decrease in recent months.
Kyiv is waiting for more than $60 billion in U.S. military aid, which is currently blocked in Congress. The Ukrainian military is short of artillery ammunition, air defense and long-range weapons. It is also trying to replenish its ranks after the failure of its counteroffensive in the summer of 2023.
Western aid is all the more crucial, as Russia is currently on the offensive on the eastern and southern fronts, with no fewer than 84 Russian attacks recorded since the start of the week, attacks that the Ukrainian military assures it has “repelled.”
These attacks come in the wake of Moscow’s forces seizing the strategic town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on Saturday, just days before the two-year anniversary of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
