The Diplomat
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, yesterday visited the 80 Ukrainian combatants who are receiving military training at the Sierra del Retín amphibious training field (Cádiz) at the hands of the Tercio de la Armada.
“The training of combatants is an essential task because many of them do not have any training, and it is satisfying to see how they are improving because they need to defend their lives, and defend peace, and that is why Spain is firmly committed to them,” she declared.
The training is being carried out by 82 soldiers from the Tercio de Armada (TEAR), belonging to the Combat Training Unit (UFC) of Toledo, and is part of the EU mission to support military training to the Armed Forces. from Ukraine.
The Minister of Defense visited the facilities and witnessed several training exercises for Ukrainian personnel, as well as a health practice. The members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces began this training at the end of April and are scheduled to complete it on June 1.
During these weeks, the training is intensive and personalized, with some days of night activity until dawn, one of the instructors explained to Robles, to whom the minister thanked “for their contribution to being able to put an end to the war in Ukraine.”.
For their part, the Ukrainians highlighted, in their talk with Robles, the progress experienced in these few weeks and the good atmosphere of the instructors who do everything possible to make them feel comfortable, at the same time that they instill confidence, a very important part of training.
To date, the UFC has contributed to training more than 500 Ukrainian soldiers in courses held at this training camp and at the TEAR Barracks in San Fernando, both in the province of Cádiz. The unit is dependent on the ‘Toledo Training Coordination Center’ (TTCC), established in December 2022 as part of the EU mission that was born with the objective of training some 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
During the visit, which coincides with the commemoration of the patron saint of the Marine Corps, San Juan Nepomuceno, Robles was accompanied by the Secretary General of Defense Policy, Admiral Juan Francisco Martínez Núñez.
