US Will More Than Double Its Training Program for Ukrainian Troops

The Pentagon is planning a major expansion of the number of Ukrainian troops that it will train in Germany and aims to start the new program in early 2023, US officials told The New York Times on Thursday.

The expanded program will enable the US military to train up to 800 Ukrainian troops each month, a battalion-sized force. The US has been training Ukrainian forces in Germany and other undisclosed locations in Europe since earlier in the war at a rate of about 300 troops per month, according to Pentagon statistics.

President Biden has already approved the new training program, which will take place at a US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany. Previous training efforts have been focused on using specific weapons systems, such as the HIMARS rocket systems. But the new program will be more advanced and will include battlefield tactics, such as coordinating infantry maneuvers with artillery support.