Ukrainian advisors to teach German army how to win a modern war by 2029

BERLIN — Ukrainian military instructors will deploy to German army schools to help the Bundeswehr meet a readiness target against a hypothetical Russian attack on NATO by 2029, the head of the German army said Wednesday.

The announcement, reported by Reuters, marks a striking role reversal from years of Western forces training Ukrainian troops and underscores the value of lessons learned on the increasingly drone-dominated battlefield of the Russian invasion. ​

“We have high expectations,” Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding told Reuters in an interview. “The Ukrainian military is currently the only one in the world with frontline experience against Russia.”

The deployment follows an agreement signed between the German and Ukrainian defense ministries, under which Ukrainian instructors will embed at Bundeswehr schools to pass on battlefield knowledge accumulated over more than four years of full-scale war. The first contingent is expected to number in the “middle double-digits” and will rotate through for several weeks at a time, Freuding said.

Their expertise will span artillery, engineering, armored operations, drone employment, and command and control − precisely the capability types where the Ukraine war has produced the most rapidly evolving battlefield lessons. The move reflects growing recognition across NATO that European armies have more to learn from Kyiv than they can offer in return.​

Freuding grounded the urgency in Western intelligence assessments suggesting Russia could be in a position to mount a large-scale offensive against the alliance as early as 2029. “That’s almost the day after tomorrow. We have no time - the enemy doesn’t wait for ‌us ⁠to declare we’re ready. So we have to use every possibility to prepare,” he said.

Germany has trained Ukrainian personnel on platforms including the Marder infantry fighting vehicle, Leopard main battle tanks, artillery systems, and air defense since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. That the relationship has now effectively inverted − with Kyiv dispatching trainers north rather than receiving them − is, Freuding said, a reflection of “an equal partnership in the field of security.”

Berlin is currently Kyiv’s most significant backer, having provided the most aid of any country aside from the United States, which has paused direct military support to Ukraine under the Trump administration. By the end of 2025, Germany had provided a total of €20 billion ($23.1 billion) in military aid to Ukraine, according to a running tally by the German-based Kiel Institute, an economics research organization.

Defense and government officials from both countries have launched a number of initiatives to benefit from each other’s comparative advantages, including taking steps to foster tighter integration of their defense industrial bases.

The latest announcement comes as Berlin accelerates its broader Bundeswehr buildup, with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius targeting defense spending of 3.5% of GDP by 2029 as part of an ambition to field Europe’s most powerful conventional army.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——德国陆军总司令周三表示，乌克兰军事教官将部署到德国陆军学校，以帮助德国联邦国防军在2029年之前达到应对俄罗斯假想的对北约发动攻击的战备目标。

路透社报道的这一声明标志着角色发生了显著转变，与多年来西方军队训练乌克兰军队的局面截然不同，也凸显了在俄罗斯入侵这场日益以无人机为主导的战场上汲取经验教训的价值。

“我们寄予厚望，”克里斯蒂安·弗罗伊丁中将接受路透社采访时表示。“乌克兰军队是目前世界上唯一一支拥有与俄罗斯一线作战经验的军队。”

此次部署是根据德国和乌克兰国防部签署的一项协议进行的。根据该协议，乌克兰教官将进驻德国联邦国防军的军事院校，传授他们在四年多全面战争中积累的战场经验。弗罗伊丁表示，首批教官人数预计在“两位数”左右，并将轮换驻扎数周。

他们的专长将涵盖炮兵、工程、装甲作战、无人机运用以及指挥控制——而这些恰恰是乌克兰战争中战场经验教训发展最为迅速的领域。此举反映出北约内部日益认识到，欧洲军队需要向基辅学习的东西远比他们能够提供的要多。

弗罗伊丁指出，西方情报机构的评估表明，俄罗斯最早可能在2029年就对北约发动大规模进攻，这凸显了形势的紧迫性。“那几乎就是后天了。我们没有时间了——敌人不会等我们宣布准备就绪。所以我们必须利用一切机会做好准备。”他说道。

自2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰以来，德国一直在为乌克兰人员提供包括“黄鼠狼”步兵战车、“豹”主战坦克、火炮系统和防空系统在内的各种平台的培训。弗罗伊丁表示，如今双方关系实际上已经颠倒过来——基辅向北方派遣教官而不是接收教官——这反映了“安全领域平等伙伴关系”。

目前，柏林是基辅最重要的支持者，除美国外，德国向乌克兰提供的援助金额位居世界第二。美国在特朗普政府时期暂停了对乌克兰的直接军事援助。据总部位于德国的基尔经济研究所统计，截至2025年底，德国已向乌克兰提供了总计200亿欧元（约合231亿美元）的军事援助。

两国国防和政府官员发起了一系列倡议，以利用彼此的比较优势，包括采取措施促进两国国防工业基地的更紧密一体化。

最新公告发布之际，柏林正加快其更广泛的联邦国防军建设，国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托里乌斯的目标是到 2029 年将国防开支提高到国内生产总值的 3.5%，这是打造欧洲最强大的常规军队雄心的一部分。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。