North Macedonia, the second Balkan country after Romania, completed the successful training of the first group of Ukrainian servicemen — information about the training was confidential for security reasons.
North Macedonia secretly trained the first group of Ukrainian soldiers
According to the MOD chief Slavjanka Petrovska, the training was conducted "at facilities belonging to the army of the Republic of North Macedonia, which the government decided".
She added that North Macedonia, which joined NATO in 2020, would continue training the Ukrainian military throughout 2024 and "as long as there is a need for it."
Petrovska did not say what kind of training the soldiers underwent or how many soldiers have gone through or would go through this process.
This training makes North Macedonia the second Balkan country after Romania to offer bases on its territory for the training of Ukrainian soldiers.
What is known about the AFU training in Romania
Romania has offered to use its bases since the beginning of the Russian invasion to host instructors from other countries to train Ukrainian militaries. In November of this year, it opened a training centre for Ukrainian pilots who, in the future, would learn to fly F-16 fighter jets supplied by the West [allies].
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 the Croatian president blocked this proposition.
