Western instructors tell of acute shortage of interpreters in training of Ukrainian military - FT

Western instructors lack interpreters to train Ukrainian soldiers, the Financial Times reports.

"Interpreters are the number one problem," says Martin Bonn, a Dutch brigadier general and deputy director of the EU's international training program for Ukrainian soldiers. The program was launched in November 2022 and is supposed to teach tactics, warfare, and handling of various types of weapons. However, its implementation, including the training of pilots for F-16 fighter jets, is hampered by a lack of interpreters who know the relevant military terminology.

Ukraine and EU countries supply specialists for this program, but "translating words used in a military and technical context – words that no one uses in everyday life – is a big problem," the general told the publication.

The instructors praise the Ukrainian soldiers for their "incredible motivation" but also note that their abilities and ages vary widely. One volunteer who arrived at a base in Germany, for example, was 71 years old, and some Ukrainian commanders seem reluctant to let their most capable soldiers leave the front line for training.

German, Dutch and Danish officers are training Ukrainians in Klick in northern Germany, but the problem with translation has also been fully manifested in Denmark, where 8 pilots and several dozen support staff have begun training to operate F-16 fighter jets at Skrydstrup air base. According to the Danish military, the process was halted due to a security check of the Ukrainian pilots, lack of necessary language skills, and health checks.

Denmark and the Netherlands have pledged to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, subject to the consent of the United States. This will be done after all the necessary conditions are met, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said a week ago during a visit by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to Rutte, the Netherlands has 42 F-16s, but it is too early to say whether all of them will be at Ukraine's disposal. The exact number of planes to be transferred will be discussed later, Zelenskyy added.