MP Erik Fabijanic of the opposition Social Democrats said on Wednesday he would vote for a decision on the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia, adding that he will vote for not for the sake of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic or President Zoran Milanovic, but for Ukraine's sake.

Speaking during a debate on the government’s decision, he said the procedure for other military missions in the past had been the same, that previous governments had acted the same as the incumbent one in this regard, and that he saw nothing contentious about this decision.

He told those in power, however, that the rhetoric heard in the debate so far was not the way to secure a two-thirds majority that is required for the decision to pass.

We must all act responsibly, we are not sending anyone abroad, Fabijanic said, adding that parliament decided to send Croatian troops to Afghanistan, where one Croatian soldier was killed.

Another Social Democrat MP, Rajko Ostojic, who said earlier he would support the government’s decision, told his opposition colleagues today he could not understand their having been for a resolution on Ukraine but now being against the training of its soldiers as part of the EU Military Assistance Mission.

“You are either against Putin’s criminal regime or you are for it… If you are for the resolution, you can’t be against the mission,” he said.

Ostojic said the issue of training Ukrainian soldiers was not one of being for or against the ruling HDZ party or Plenkovic himself, but a question of being ready to take responsibility.