LONDON: Britain and the other allies trained more than 17,000 Ukrainian recruits over the last year to help Kyiv fight Russia’s invasion, said the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom (UK) Monday.
The recruits, from different walks of life, all went through a “gruelling” five-week programme which according to the ministry transformed them “from civilians to soldiers.”
Britain and nine partner countries — Canada, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark and The Netherlands — opened the initiative for new volunteer recruits to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in June 2022.
The UK-led training programme tagged as ‘Operation Interflex’ taught the recruits, who had little to no previous military knowledge and experience, various skills including battlefield first aid, weapons handling and patrol tactics.
“The determination and resilience of the Ukrainian recruits that arrive on British soil, from all walks of life, to train to fight alongside our British and international forces, is humbling to witness,” said United Kingdom’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
“The UK and our international partners will continue to provide this vital support, helping Ukraine defend against Russian aggression, for as long as it takes.”
Britain initially offered to train up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in battlefield skills, based on the United Kingdom’s basic soldier training.
According to the British defense ministry, the programme has now been extended and is on track to train some 30,000 recruits by 2024.
It said intelligence has shown that the training has made “a significant difference to the combat effectiveness of Ukraine.”
“The UK Armed Forces maintains close communication with Ukraine to improve and evolve the course based on the skills most needed on the battlefield,” the ministry said further.
