Denmark to send soldiers for training in Ukraine
The Danish Armed Forces are planning to send Danish soldiers to Ukraine for training.
Source: Major General Peter Boysen, Commander of the Danish Ground Forces, in an interview with Danish TV channel TV 2, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Several teams of Danish soldiers are set to be deployed to Ukraine.
They will be unarmed and drawn from various military regiments.
The Danish command is particularly interested in Ukraine's three years of frontline experience with drone warfare.
"In my 42 years of service in the armed forces, I have never seen events develop so quickly," said Major General Peter Boysen, after observing the training of a reconnaissance regiment using advanced attack drones similar to those deployed on the front line in Ukraine.
Boysen asserts that the adoption of new weapons systems and warfare methods by the Danish Armed Forces stems from his two recent visits to Ukraine.
He now aims to accelerate the process by sending more teams of Danish soldiers to training camps in Ukraine.
The number of training courses has not yet been finalised, but Boysen told TV 2 that both instructors and soldiers are expected to take part in sessions lasting one to two weeks, possibly starting as early as this summer.
"We are sending several teams there to see first-hand what experience the Ukrainians have. So come and get this experience," he said.
"Yes, I've been there several times. But these soldiers aren't going there to take an active part in the war. They're going there to gain some experience, and this is at the invitation of my counterpart, the commander of the Ukrainian military," said Boysen.
Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen has expressed outrage over the Danish Armed Forces' plan to send personnel to a training camp in Ukraine.
"Sending Danish troops to Ukraine, including to study combat experience, draws Denmark deeper and deeper into the conflict in Ukraine and provokes its further uncontrolled escalation," Russian Ambassador Vladimir Barbin said in a written comment to TV 2.
In response, Boysen emphasised that the soldiers would be unarmed and deployed far from the front line, likely at a training centre in Ukraine's west.
"They will be trained far from the front line, for example, in Lviv in Ukraine's west. And if there is a missile attack, the Ukrainians have outstanding warning systems and good shelters. I myself spent time in one of them in Kyiv," Boysen said.
Background:
At the end of March, Denmark announced €130 million in guarantees for Danish companies prepared to invest in Ukraine's defence industry.
More recently, the drone coalition, which includes Denmark, allocated €20 million from a joint fund to procure tactical-level intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) drones for Ukraine's defence forces.
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