France is seeking to assemble a coalition of European countries willing to send military trainers to Ukraine as western allies look for ways to speed up Kyiv’s recruitment efforts in the face of Russia’s renewed offensive.
More than 100,000 Ukrainian servicemen have completed training abroad — mostly in Poland, Germany and the UK — since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
But Ukrainian officials say it would be more efficient to send western army personnel to train them locally — especially as Russia has intensified its aerial attacks and made some territorial gains in northern and eastern Ukraine. Some western allies have already provided limited training in Ukraine.