Commanders of the National Guards of Ukraine and California discussed future cooperation projects
The commander of the National Guard of Ukraine Mykola Balan held a working online meeting with the commander of the California National Guard David Baldwin. The video conference was attended by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Mary Akopian. The
main attention of the parties was focused on discussing the directions of further cooperation for a five-year perspective and agreement on the development of a bilateral cooperation document.
Recently, on September 3, 2021, at a meeting with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the commander of the California National Guard, David Baldwin, praised the cooperation with the National Guard of Ukraine.
At the beginning of the video conference, Mykola Balan expressed gratitude for the steadfast position of the United States of America in supporting Ukraine, the security and defense sector of the state and providing material and technical assistance to the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Also, the commander of the NGU thanked the California National Guard for defending the interests of the Ukrainian National Guard during the work of the Multinational Joint Coordination Committee (BOCC) and emphasized the importance of the achievements of cooperation within the framework of the State Partnership Program (SPP).
Recall that as part of the participation of the NGU in the Multinational Joint Committee (BOCC) together with the National Guard of the State of California, the NGU received international technical assistance in the amount of about 78 million US dollars. In particular, means of radio and satellite communications, medical property and equipment, optical devices, engineering equipment, target reconnaissance systems, unmanned aerial vehicles.
During the period of cooperation under the State Partnership Program (SPP) since 2014, the California National Guard conducted 23 joint activities with the National Guard of Ukraine, of which 14 were educational.
Mary Akopian stressed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is working hard on the development of the air safety system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the restoration of aeromedical evacuation, so it is important to familiarize yourself with the experience of American partners for the formation of the structure. In particular, with the practices of evacuation of wounded and seriously ill citizens, training of the flight crew.
David Baldwin expressed his interest in further cooperation in this direction and willingness to actively participate in the process in order to further strengthen the capacities for the development of safe airspace and the involvement of law enforcement agencies in the rescue of citizens.
Mykola Balan expressed support for the efforts of the personnel of the California National Guard in the fight against large-scale forest fires in the state and thanked for inviting five servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine to participate in the Best Warrior Competition, which was held will be held from October 25 to 29, 2021 at the NG California training centers Camp San Luis Obispo and Camp Roberts.
The parties discussed the issue of joint collective training and the possibility of joint exercises of two battalions — from Ukraine and from California. The commander of the NGU informed about the work started on the inclusion of the National Guard battalion in the NATO Concept of Operational Capabilities Verification and Feedback Program.
This program is a mechanism that allows units to participate in NATO-led exercises, missions and operations, as well as to be involved in operational duty as part of multinational high-readiness military formations (led by NATO, EU, UN).
As a result of the meeting, the parties reached certain agreements on joint projects on the development of the training system in the National Guard of Ukraine (involvement of American instructors in the training process at the International Training Center of Units of NGU and in training courses of the sergeant staff). Also discussed were involvement in international educational programs, advisory assistance on the development of doctrinal documents of NGU (NGU started work on systematic development of guidance documents according to NATO standards), development of communication systems, logistics, cybersecurity, strategic communications and language training.
For reference: Cooperation between the National Guards of Ukraine and California has been going on since 1993. The American Guards are one of the most active partners of the NGU. With the beginning of the armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014, cooperation between the structures was significantly intensified. Representatives of both force formations participate in the work of the BOCC subcommittee, where issues regarding the provision of security assistance to Ukraine from the US government are resolved.
Press service of the NGU
