North Macedonia Trains Ukrainian Military
Another Balkan country, North Macedonia, has successfully trained the first group of Ukrainian soldiers - information about the training has been kept secret for security reasons. This was stated on Tuesday by the country's Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska in an interview with the national television channel Macedonian Television, Balkan Insight reports.
According to the minister, the exercises were held "at facilities belonging to the army of the Republic of North Macedonia, as decided by the government".
She added that North Macedonia, which joined NATO in 2020, will continue to train the Ukrainian military through 2024 and "as long as it is needed".
Petrovska did not say what kind of training the soldiers received, or how many soldiers have gone through or will go through the process.
The training makes North Macedonia the second Balkan country after Romania to offer bases on its territory for training Ukrainian soldiers.
Romania has offered the use of its bases since the beginning of the Russian invasion to host instructors from other countries to train Ukrainian soldiers. In November this year, it opened a training centre for Ukrainian pilots who will eventually learn to fly F-16 fighter jets supplied by the West.
In August, Greece also offered to train Ukrainian F-16 pilots, but not on its territory. Slovenia joined the training in 2022, but sent its instructors to training sites in Germany.
Last year, Croatia considered opening its bases to train Ukrainian ground forces, but this step was blocked by the Croatian president.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, North Macedonia has sent ten batches of military aid to Kyiv and is considered one of the largest suppliers of equipment among Ukraine's allies, given its size and population of just under 2 million.
The small country, which is now replenishing its stockpile with Western equipment, has sent Ukraine about 30 Soviet-era T-72 tanks, 12 Soviet-era Mi-24 attack helicopters and four Su-25 attack aircraft. All of this, ironically, was purchased from Ukraine in 2001.
North Macedonia also joined the declaration of the Group of Seven leaders on security commitments to Ukraine.