Ukrainian trainers to help German army get ready to defend against Russia by 2029

That is according to Reuters, Ukrinform reports.

Ukrainian instructors will assist German forces in reaching their goal of being ready to defend against any Russian attack on a NATO member by 2029, Lieutenant General Christian Freuding, the German army chief, said.

Berlin and Kyiv agreed last month that Ukraine would send military instructors to German army schools to teach lessons they have learned from fighting against Russia's invasion.

"We have high expectations," Freuding told Reuters in an interview. "The Ukrainian military is currently ⁠the only one in the world with frontline experience against Russia."

Freuding said Germany was the first country to reach an arrangement with Ukraine to provide military instructors but predicted others would follow suit.

Asked what the Ukrainian trainers would contribute, he referred to assessments by German and other Western intelligence agencies that Russia could be ready for a large-scale attack on the NATO military alliance by 2029.

"That's almost the day after tomorrow. We have no time – the enemy doesn't wait for us ⁠to declare we're ready. So we have to use every possibility to prepare," Freuding said.

Russia has insisted it does not intend to attack NATO, but Western officials say such assurances cannot be taken at face value as Moscow made similar statements before invading Ukraine.

Freuding, who became army chief last October after previously coordinating Germany's arms supplies to ⁠Kyiv, said the initial contingent of Ukrainian trainers would likely number in the "middle double-digits" and stay for a few weeks at a time.

The Ukrainian instructors are expected to contribute expertise in artillery, engineering, armoured operations, drone usage and command and control.

Since ⁠Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany has trained Ukrainian forces on weapons such as Marder infantry fighting vehicles, Leopard tanks, howitzers and air defense systems.

Freuding said Ukraine had built on these skills in combat, developing ⁠tactics and capabilities in data-centric warfare – the military term for highly digitalized and interconnected operations – that cannot be found in textbooks.

"The fact that they are now coming to us as instructors reflects a ​security partnership on an equal footing," Freuding said.

Since February 2022, Europe has documented 151 cases of sabotage, arson, attempted bombings and other hybrid attacks linked to Russia.

Photo: Bundeswehr