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Ukraine’s trainee combat medics put through paces ready for the big push

By Joe Barnes in Kharkiv

Machine gun!” roars the American instructor. “Your entire platoon has been hit!” In a classroom in Kharkiv, 30 trainee combat medics drop to the floor and frantically tie tourniquets around their right legs. When they finish, they leap to their feet and raise one hand.

“Sniper!” shouts the instructor and the sweaty, finger-testing drill begins again, with half of the medics wrapping tight braces around their comrades’ legs.

The next shout is: “Artillery!” The medics now tie tourniquets around all four limbs of the soldiers who are pretending to be wounded in preparation for the type of damage they are likely to be called upon to treat as Ukraine’s counter-offensive gets under way.

“You can be the most prepared soldier, but artillery doesn’t choose,” said a colonel from Ukraine’s Operational Command North, who uses the call-sign “Yenot”.

It is his job to ensure the 40,000 men under his command, some of whom are barely out of school, become the best possible medics and soldiers. They have little time.

Kyiv has drafted an unknown number of men in preparation for its upcoming assault on Russia’s defensive lines, although the actual figure is likely to be in the tens of thousands.

The human price will be high. Attacking is usually more costly for an army than defending, and Russia has had months to construct an enormous series of defensive fortifications, with the aim of funnelling any Ukrainian breakthrough into a narrow lane and pummelling the advancing troops with artillery.

Since the war began, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have received training overseas, including the more than 15,000 who have passed through Britain’s Operation Interflex.

Nato has spent more than 50 years preparing for a conflict with Russia, so its knowledge and hardware are considered vital in bolstering Ukraine’s outgunned forces.

But Ukraine does not have the time or resources to send thousands more men abroad, so the majority have been put through their paces in camps such as this one. The training site’s exact location is a secret as it sits within range of Russian S-300 missiles.

About 200 men pass through the Trident Defense Initiative (TDI) training camp every week. Yenot wishes they were all combat medics, knowing what awaits on the front line.

The TDI are a group of former British, Spanish, American and Canadian soldiers with years of experience from serving in some of the world’s most-drilled armies. The Ukrainian military has designated the organisation’s base as an official training centre, in recognition of their work in preparing some 10,000 troops for combat in the war so far.

Gone are the mandatory lessons in patriotism, which were still being taught to new recruits six months ago, and teachings from the clunky Soviet military doctrine used by Russia. The emphasis is now on marksmanship, tactics and combat medicine, taught with the same techniques used by the US Navy’s Seal Team Six in preparation for their mission to kill Osama bin Laden.

In a distant part of the base, six men from Alpha Team shuffled into position along the wall to the entrance of an abandoned farmhouse. The unit’s leader placed one palm on his helmet and raised a clenched fist above his head, giving his men the signal to lead the assault with the toss of a grenade. There is a deafening blast and the men rush through the door in single file.

“Chystyy,” (Ukrainian for clean) yelled the leader, after six clicks from the triggers of the men’s Kalashnikov rifles secured the position in a matter of seconds. Before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s military was mostly made up of professional troops who had received training from Nato as part of Operational Orbital. But, now battalions are composed of plumbers, teachers and IT programmers.

Since the outbreak of the war, many men have been sent to the front line with as little as two weeks’ training. “It is vital to improve our skills. The more professional we are, the more our soldiers know, the greater the chances we have to win,” says Yenot.

The Western weaponry donated by Kyiv’s international partners will only be as effective as the hands of the Ukrainian troops wielding it, he added.

For the last four months, TDI has received its orders from Yenot to prepare his men for the counteroffensive.

Some of these troops have been pulled away from front-line duties in the Donbas to take part in the training courses lasting weeks.

“There is no need to teach these guys patriotism,” the colonel said. “The emphasis is on tactics, weapon handling and combat medicine...

That’s what we need the most.”

‘There is no need to teach these guys patriotism

... tactics, weapon handling and combat medicine – that’s what we need’

Across the meadow, a group of Ukrainian infantrymen, wearing olive-green camouflage, emerge from the treeline on the edge of an expansive woodland.

They’re well-equipped with modern optical sights attached to their AK-47 rifles and upgraded body armour, having recently returned from the devastated city of Bakhmut.

Despite their combat experience, they are being drilled on the best practices for ambushes, manoeuvres and concealing themselves from the enemy. In the classroom, men study model battlefields to hone their mission-planning skills. Others patrol the perimeter of the base – not to defend against the enemy, but to keep them alert when they face the Russian troops.

Another nearby group of men, looking a little more ragged than the last, are instructed to keep their elbows and heels tucked in when firing their guns from a prone position. They are warned that during the Second World War, men were frequently hit in the elbows and heels because they allowed them to splay out from the rest of their body. The soldiers come in all shapes and sizes. Some wear cheap, Chinese-manufactured body armour, while others have managed to find Nato-standard gear with the help of friends and families.

However overweight or old they might be, they are all told that as long as they can complete a 100-metre dash they will be able to pick up sufficient skills to survive on the battlefield.

Before the invasion, Serhii, a division commander in Ukraine’s national border guards, would check passports at Kharkiv’s international airport.

As well as learning from former US soldiers on the battlefield at the TDI camp, Serhii has been reading American author Carlos Castaneda, who wrote a series of guides on shamanic teaching, including the Warrior’s Way.

“It helps me to accept the situation, not to be so aggressive and become nervous by the situations around me,” says Serhii. “It helps me to make the right decision to save the lives of my subordinates.”

The lessons that Mr Castaneda teaches warriors are fitting, if bleak, for recruits heading to the front line.

World News

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2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-03T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://dailytelegraph.pressreader.com/article/281951727205031

Daily Telegraph