As Russia continues its attack on Ukraine, the United Kingdom has started training Ukrainian soldiers with basic infantry skills at four locations in the UK. As per ANI, the country aims to train 20,000 personnel by the end of the year.
The UK has already trained 10,000 newly recruited Ukrainian soldiers since June 27 last year.
The training includes weapons handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and teaching on the Law of Armed Conflict.
In a video shared by the news agency, a group of trainees with practice guns were seen learning how to enter a room discreetly.
While speaking to ANI, Major Tucker Middleton Officer Commanding the UK training team said that the training was very basic.
“Essentially, the recruits that come through have very little military experience. We treat them as civilians, and then provide basic training in infantry skills to arm them with the right key skills and experience so that they can go back and defend their homeland,” Major Middleton said.
Middleton also mentioned that the duration of the training program for the new recruits of Ukrainian soldiers is just a few weeks long.
Under the United Kingdom command element, Canadian and Lithuanian contingents are also working together to impart the necessary training to new Ukrainian military recruits.
The commanding officer of the Canadian contingent of the training element, Major Jurgen Mirnada said that training focuses on bringing recruits to learn basic infantry skills like how to shoot, move, communicate and medicate on the battlefield.
"Training focuses on bringing recruits up to basic infantry skills. So our main aim is to teach these soldiers how to shoot, move, communicate and medicate on the battlefield in such a way that they can effectively fight in this war. Our overall anticipation is that by the end of this training, they'll be more effective, more lethal on the battlefield. We make sure that they are actually capable of defending their country,” Miranda told ANI.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian soldier training in the UK, Igor, said that it is a valuable and interesting experience. Igor, a native of Odesa who joined the army about a month ago, said they are taught to learn defensive tactics of the military.
“We are taught by our partners to defend our land and to learn defensive tactics of the military. We are training here at this moment on urban operations."
Igor also mentioned that he used to create handmade leather objects before joining the military.