Ukrainian instructors will prepare Europe to defend against Russia

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an agreement in February under which Ukrainian soldiers will train German troops. The Bundeswehr will receive training in the use of drones, artillery, armored operations, engineering units, and command-and-control systems. “Ukrainian instructors will help the Bundeswehr prepare to defend against a possible Russian attack on NATO countries by 2029,” said Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding, commander of the German Army, in a statement to Reuters. “The Ukrainian Armed Forces are currently the only ones in the world with direct combat experience against Russia,” he added.

The first group of Ukrainian instructors will consist of “several dozen personnel” and remain in Germany for several weeks. As Reuters rightly notes, at the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022, it was Germany that trained Ukrainian soldiers in operating the equipment it had supplied (including Leopard tanks and air defense systems). Freuding acknowledged that Ukraine has since applied those skills in combat conditions, developing tactics and capabilities in so-called data-driven warfare — highly digitalized and networked operations that are difficult to learn from textbooks.

The development of military cooperation between the two sides demonstrates how valuable the experience gained by Ukrainians during the war has become. It is true that Ukraine has been the only country fighting—dare I say—successfully against Russia in recent years. Such experience is not available anywhere else.