The US plans to more than double the number of Ukrainian troops trained in Germany

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is expanding the training the US military provides to Ukrainian troops, with plans to double the number of forces it trains at a base in Germany, according to two US officials.

The expansion of training, which, according to officials, the president Joe Biden Approved this week, it would allow US instructors to train a Ukrainian battalion – between 600 and 800 soldiers – every month, starting early next year, officials said.

This is a significant increase in the total number of Ukrainians the United States trains outside the country – currently an average of about 300 soldiers per month – as well as a renewal of the training they will receive.

Since the war began in February, the United States has trained a total of 3,100 Ukrainian soldiers, mostly in small groups, in specific weapons such as various artillery systems, according to Defense Department statistics.

For example, the Pentagon has trained 610 Ukrainian soldiers in the use of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, an advanced rocket launcher.

Ukrainian troops have used these rocket launchers to devastating effect, hitting targets far behind the lines, such as ammunition dumps, command posts and bridges.

Under the expanded program, US instructors will train larger groups of Ukrainian soldiers in more advanced battlefield tactics, including “collective training,” such as coordinating maneuvers of ground infantry troops with artillery support .

CNN reported last month that the Biden administration was considering expanding the training.

The new training regimen will take place at a US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, where the Pentagon conducts its own combined arms training.

The base also houses the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.

Ukrainian officers were cautious about withdrawing too many troops from the front at any one time for specialized weapons training.

But with winter slowing the pace of fighting in many parts of the combat zone, officials have said the coming months will offer an opportunity.

Military officials said the expanded training would, in many ways, aim to resume the training that US National Guard and Special Forces instructors, along with instructors from other countries in the BORNthey regularly gave to Ukrainian troops before the start of the war in February.

From 2015 through early this year, US military instructors trained more than 27,000 Ukrainian soldiers at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center in western Ukraine near the city of Lviv, Pentagon officials said.

The United States withdrew 150 military instructorss before the war started in February.

Months after the war began, the United States and other Western countries began training Ukrainian forces in Germany and Poland.

In addition, Britain has launched a program to provide military training in Britain for 10,000 Ukrainian army recruits and personnel, an effort that is intended to help bolster local resistance to the Russian invasion.

The initiative, announced by the then prime minister Boris Johnson in June, it began with more than 1,000 British soldiers from the 11th Assistance Brigade of the security forces, which specializes in overseas training.

Other nations including Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Canada and New Zealand have joined the initiative after Britain asked for help.

British defense chief Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said on Wednesday that the initial target of training 10,000 Ukrainian recruits had almost been achieved.

“This is significant,” he said in a speech in London.

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