Ukrainian soldiers in UK to train with British forces
British forces have started training Ukrainian soldiers in a new programme that will prepare them in their fight against Russia. About 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in the UK for military training that would last several weeks. The first troop from Ukraine met the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, on Thursday, confirmed the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
UK’s support to Ukraine in war against Russia
Wallace described the programme being the next phase of United Kingdom’s support to the Ukrainian army. “Using the world-class expertise of the British army we will help Ukraine to rebuild its forces and scale up its resistance as they defend their country’s sovereignty and their right to choose their own future,” he said.
The training programme
Around 1,050 British service personnel have been deployed to run the training programme. The training for Ukrainian soldiers will take place at four “undisclosed” MoD sites across the north-west, south-west and south-east parts of the UK.
The training will give the Ukraine’s volunteer recruits, having little to no military experience, the skills thaht are required to in frontline combat against Russia. The course covers “weapons handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and the law of armed conflict”, based on UK’s basic training for soldier.
The United Kingdom government, so far, has invested £2.3bn in military aid to Ukraine to support it in the war against Russia. The UK government, for this training, has also procured AK variant assault rifles to enable the Ukrainian soldiers to train with the weapons that they would be using on the war frontline.
As Russia continues its offensive in Ukraine, the countries are coming forward to support Kyiv in the war against Moscow.