NATO nations may send troops to Ukraine to provide "rapid" and "high-quality" training for the Ukrainian army as it prepares to repel a Russian offensive this summer, knowledgeable sources told The New York Times.
According to the sources, Ukrainian troops are currently being trained in Europe at training grounds in Germany and Poland. Sending them there, as well as returning to the war zone via Lviv and Kyiv, takes a lot of time.
At the same time, due to the shortage of personnel in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which has reached a "critical point," Ukrainian officials have asked the United States and NATO allies to help train another 150,000 recruits.
Moving the training to Ukraine would allow instructors to gather information about innovations on the front lines more quickly and adapt curricula accordingly, the NYT said.
The deployment of NATO instructors to Ukraine "seems inevitable," said General Charles Brown, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, according to him, such actions would "put the lives of the trainers at risk", so the Ukrainian military will have to choose between using air defence systems to protect NATO troops or the country's critical infrastructure.
The discussion about sending Western troops to Ukraine was launched in late February by French President Emmanuel Macron. In early May, he named two conditions for this: the Russian army must break through the front line, and Kyiv must send a request for assistance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the initiative. According to him, foreign military personnel could train Ukrainian soldiers and help repair equipment. At the same time, he warned that he could not publicly invite the armies of other countries to Ukraine to take part in hostilities, as Russia "will do everything to stop military assistance".
Meanwhile, it has been reported that France is testing a new military unit that could be useful in Ukraine. The experimental FRAN unit consists of "ultra-low-visibility soldiers" designed to detect enemy trenches.