Irish troops have begun training Ukrainian armed forces in bomb disposal and demining, the chief of the Defense Forces said. The training is part of the EU Military Assistance Mission in Ukraine, under which Ukrainian forces receive military training from member states to help repel a Russian invasion.
At this point, let us recall that, during the recent visit of Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov to Cyprus, the representative of the Cypriot government, Konstantinos Letymiotis, said that his country will not give weapons to Ukraine but will teach Ukrainian military personnel, in particular, how to mine lands.
"Let Europe not forget that we too are a victim of invasion and occupation and that the same sensitivity and solidarity should exist for Cyprus, which does not exist", the representative of the Cypriot government had stated.
He even mentioned that "the Minister of Defense of Ukraine will arrive today, we will show him around the places where the training will take place, we will inform him about exactly what Cyprus is doing for his own country, in an effort to be close to the development of events. We are close of course, we participate in all councils concerning Ukraine. We accept refugees, if I'm not mistaken 20-21 thousand Ukrainian refugees are in Cyprus".
Ireland has committed to sending up to 30 defense force personnel to take part in training in areas such as munitions disposal and combat medicine.
The government has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Ireland is not politically neutral in its stance on the war, while maintaining a stance of military neutrality.
Foreign and Defense Secretary Martin added: “Our military neutrality is established. We are not a member of NATO and we are not a member of a common EU defense pact. That is the definition of our neutrality."
Speaking at the annual conference of the Permanent Defense Other Tiers Association (PDForra), Lt. Gen. Sean Clancy said Irish troops were already in Cyprus providing basic explosive ordnance disposal and demining training to Ukrainian forces. "Other Defense Force personnel were coordinating the mission from Germany and Brussels," he said.
Ukraine may be interested in the Cypriot arsenal even more than the Greek one: Cyprus has T-80U tanks (43 units), Buk (4) and Tor (6) air defense missile systems with associated missiles, Mi-35 helicopters (some of these were sold to Serbia).
As early as April 2022, media reported that Cyprus could make available Soviet BMP-3, T-80 tanks and Buk air defense systems to Ukraine, but under the condition that the United States of America replaces these systems with newer BMP tanks and air defense systems, however such a "plan" was never implemented.
Speaking of the Cypriot T-80U, first of all it is worth noting the following: according to Military Balance, Cyprus has up to 82 tanks in service, and this is almost an entire tank brigade, provided that Cyprus will agree to surrender all of its Soviet vehicles. And considering the fact that Greece probably won't supply its Leopards to Ukraine, this seems like a good deal for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
