EU Eyes Bases for Military Training in Ukraine

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Wednesday Brussels was eyeing several bases that could be used to train Ukrainian troops in the war-torn country if there is a deal to stop the fighting.

“We have been discussing the training of the Ukrainian soldiers, also on the soil of Ukraine,” Kallas said at a meeting of EU defense ministers.

“We have identified two training centers that could be used for that purpose,” she said, without providing details.

The EU has said it could start training Ukrainian forces in their homeland as part of Western security guarantees under any potential agreement to end Russia’s four-year war.

The 27-nation bloc has already trained some 90,000 Ukrainian soldiers on EU soil as part of a joint European program.

An EU official said renovations of the training facilities could start before fighting stops.

Several of Ukraine’s European backers — led by Britain and France — have said they are willing to deploy their own troops to Ukraine if efforts by the United States end the conflict.

Russia has warned that it would not accept troops from NATO countries on Ukrainian soil and would consider them a “legitimate target.”