The first 64 Ukrainian civilians that Spain will convert into soldiers are already in the ‘Toledo Training Command’, the training center that the Armed Forces have enabled to train them in the fight against the Russian invasion. This is the first batch of the offer made to Ukraine by the Ministry of Defense, which involves training 400 soldiers every two months -2,400 soldiers a year- in basic training such as the treatment of casualties in combat or notions against improvised explosive devices .
It is not the first time that Ukrainian soldiers have trained on Spanish soil. Last October, some twenty soldiers returned to Ukraine who were instructed in Zaragoza in the use of the Aspide anti-aircraft system, which Spain has donated to Kyiv.
They will now change the location. The ‘Toledo Training Command’ is located in the facilities of the Toledo Infantry Academy and is part of the ‘Training Modules’ established by the European Union military command for the Eumam Ukraine mission.
Some facilities that have been “adapted” so that the Ukrainian soldiers “can be housed and can have adequate living conditions”, as explained by the Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, upon her arrival at the meeting of Defense Ministers of the European Union being held today in Brussels. The Minister of Defense will visit the Toledo military academy next Sunday.
The Seville Land Force has been designated to lead the training activities, supported by the rest of the First Level Commands of the Army. They will receive basic training, they are not specialization programs for soldiers who already have combat experience, according to Defense sources.
In this basic training received by the Ukrainian soldiers, who have arrived accompanied by three interpreters, are the assistance to the wounded during combat, precision shooting, the fight against improvised explosive devices or the deactivation of mines.
The Minister of Defense has listed the number of Ukrainian soldiers who have been trained or are being trained within our borders to date: 19 did so in Zaragoza, 64 have arrived in Toledo, 21 are in Almería and another five are in Madrid. Those who are in the Andalusian province are being trained in the handling of howitzers.
“The offer is an open offer with the possibility of increasing it if necessary, and what matters most to me is that we are always very open to anything that NATO and, in this case, the European Union ask of us,” he said. said Robles in Brussels.
