The UK and France will jointly train Ukrainian marines

The UK and France have agreed on joint training of Ukrainian marines.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated this following a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, March 10.

The leaders of both countries have also agreed to further strengthen British-French military cooperation.

“We’ve agreed to train Ukrainian marines, helping to give Ukraine a decisive advantage on the battlefield and for Ukraine win this war,” Sunak said.

In turn, Macron said that he and Sunak had agreed on specific actions regarding the training of the Ukrainian military.

In addition, during the meeting, the leaders of both countries agreed to increase the inter-operability of their forces and jointly explore the development of complex weapons like air defence, combat air, and long-range weapons.

As previously reported, in 2022 Great Britain started the Operation INTERFLEX to train servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

France also trains the Ukrainian military, but on a smaller scale.

In January, it became known that the British government would hand over 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. Ukrainian crews are already training in the Challenger 2 tank operation. Within the same aid package, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive 100 armored vehicles, including Bulldog tracked APCs, a battery of eight AS-90 155mm self-propelled guns (two more batteries to be provided later).

Last month, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace announced that the defense industry of Great Britain was increasing weapon production to replenish the stockpiles of the British military and to help Ukraine.

Specifically, this regards increasing artillery shell production.

Previously, The Telegraph reported that senior UK defense industry officials were discussing cooperation plans with Ukrainian arms manufacturers.