Before they go to war

On the screen you can see that 1 position has besides regular form – almost a rectangle that cuts off from the background. Others betray the shadow that begins to unfold unnaturally with the shifting sun. Another reveals the colour – freshly cut branches are brighter than the environment. – Dron will see everything – the teacher speaks Polish and the translator translates his words into Ukrainian. - Temperature, shape, contrast, shadow. You're not masking yourself in front of 1 sensor, you're masking yourself in front of their full set.

Exercises for the Ukrainian company take place at noon erstwhile the forest is already hot. Then you can best see how the position starts to “work” in thermovision. It'd be easier to hide in the morning, too. In the mediate of the day, the cloaking errors come out immediately. Turns out the group that utilized only natural materials is better. Its positions are irregular, "split" in the field, harder to capture. But there are besides traces – broken litter, poorly selected elements of vegetation, besides apparent lines. – You don’t take the material from under your feet, due to the fact that you leave a mark – there’s another remark from the trainer. – You gotta bring it from another place – the officer instructs. All his recommendations mean 1 thing: it is not adequate to hide, you gotta control the environment all the time, respond to changing light and temperature. At the camp in Poland for a badly executed position threatens reprimand, on the front in Ukraine it is simply a substance of life and death.

The reality of front and platform

Training for Ukrainian soldiers are organized in Poland since autumn 2022 – and they are inactive changing. – The effectiveness of many solutions present has a limited “term of validity” – reserves General Piotr Fajkowski, commander of the 11th Lubuskie Division of Armoured Cavalry, on which the main burden of organizing exercises for the Armed Forces of Ukraine lies (although instructors from various units are active in conducting classes).

– What works on the front now could be useless in a month. Our occupation is to keep up with these changes so as not to train soldiers for nothing," he adds. The guidelines come from Ukraine – the local general staff is liable for updating programmes on the basis of conclusions from combat activities. They go to instructors who modify the scenarios of classes and introduce fresh elements into them. “Sometimes 1 course follows an earlier version of the program, and another 1 according to a fresh one,” admits the general. Currently, the sixth edition of the basic training program is in force, and the seventh is already being tested in Ukraine and will be implemented in subsequent editions.

But training in Poland besides has any limitations. Not everything can be recreated in the terrain – mass drone attacks or artillery storms must be simulated utilizing exercise tools, specified as firecrackers. On the another hand, policing in Poland (and in another European countries where training takes place) offers something that is lacking in Ukraine: safety and continuity. “There the classes are interrupted by alarms and attacks, here you can work the full cycle without interruptions”, explains Gen. Fajkowski.

This is peculiarly crucial at the beginning. Many trained are conscripts who had no contact with the military before. First they learn the simplest things – responding to commands, interacting in a group. Only then comes tactics, medicine and activities in larger teams. If training takes place in comparative comfort, it is easier for them to learn fresh competences and build appropriate habits.

Understanding What You Do

The Ukrainian platoon develops on the section leading to the kill home (it serves to train fighting in close contact). Another group just left the facility and goes into the woods. The rotation goes on and on. The training cycle is coming to an end – tests are ongoing for all sub-divisions of the three-company contingent. “This is simply a minute erstwhile we do not test individual skills, only the whole: planning, moving, responding to fire contact,” emphasizes the teacher from the 6th Airborne Brigade. Ukrainian commanders are given the task of getting the kill home and have a fewer minutes to prepare. The remainder is up to them. They decide on the direction of approach, power sharing, land usage and support measures. Instructors do not interfere – they observe. “We originally wanted them to carry out this task in the strength of the team, but the Ukrainians immediately entered the platoon level. That's how they work on the front and moved this practice here, says our interviewer.

A drone appears above the object – this 1 was sent by the evaluators. It tracks the movements of plutonium, captures the mistakes in insurance, shows where the column extends, where individual goes besides far into the outdoor area. - It's our eye. Without this, we would not be able to see half the crucial things at the evaluation stage," explained the Ukrainian drone operator working with Polish instructors. As plutonium approaches the target, the operator comes into contact with it – simulates the opponent, forces him to change direction, accelerate or stop. We're checking the consequence of the soldiers. Whether they can regroup or keep control of the situation," explains the 6th BPD instructor.

In another script – an assault on trenches – it is the attacking Ukrainians who usage the unmanned. An operator – an experienced fronter attached to the recruits – provides information about the opponent, indicates directions of approach, “cleansing” the area before the assault group. - That's what they're truly good at. This is 1 of the areas where we learn from them – admits another instructor, besides a parachutist. The way Ukrainians operate is different from classical patterns. less actions in compact order, more in distraction, shorter jumps, more frequent stops. “The enemy is watching everything on the front, so you can’t stay in 1 place for long,” explains our interviewer. erstwhile a fake attack begins, fire attracts the attention of defenders, in whom Polish soldiers play the role. During this time, a second group of Ukrainians approach from the side, utilizing the terrain and the minute of confusion. It's not playing the strategy anymore. Here you gotta think – comments the instructor.

After taking the facility, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not halt – they immediately decision to the defence organization. “The crucial thing is that they begin to realize what they are doing,” says the commander of the 6th BPD teacher team, an officer in the rank of major. At first it was apparent that they did not know precisely why they were here. Now it's changing. They start to be soldiers," he adds.

Reflections on the Inevitable

During 1 of the exercises, soldiers go to the trenches, which are to give the reality of the battlefield as accurately as possible. There is an annoying, sweet odor – along the walls lie the decaying fragments of animal meat scattered a fewer days earlier. Despite discomfort, soldiers cannot afford a minute of weakness – they must act. They had previously passed another test – a tank passed over their positions, which was then to be thrown grenades. Both challenges are elements of the alleged intellectual track – an episode that is intended to origin stress, confusion and disgust. – If individual suspends on the front, he will stand still, he will die – explains the legitimacy of specified exercises the Ukrainian liaison officer. – And this is just the basics... – emphasizes Major ZSU, veteran of Donbasa combat. His words echo the consciousness of what awaits the trained.

He is not the only 1 who faces the inevitable. – You know that not all of them will come home – and that is the worst – admits the translator, Ukrainian female who has lived in Poland for years. A female has been in training for ZSU soldiers for a year. He tries to make each of them realize the command, not make a mistake just due to the fact that something has been wrongly explained. Focusing on the right translation helps, but bad thoughts cannot be definitively dismissed. - Soldiers are different. any came voluntarily, others are from the draft. any keep asking everything, others keep quiet. But after a fewer weeks, the differences fade. The boys want to learn as much as possible due to the fact that they realize that their life depends on this cognition – the translator reports. As we speak, a group of Ukrainian soldiers remainder next to us. Someone's laughing, someone's sleeping. In a fewer days they finish the turnus in Poland, in a fewer weeks they will leave for the front.

Away from the front

The training of Ukrainian soldiers takes place as part of the EUMAM Ukraine mission, established in 2022 in consequence to Russian aggression. The Command, or Combined Arms Training Command based in Żagań, is liable for preparing from individual level to battalion, including staff and specialists. Almost 300 training modules have been implemented as part of CAT-C, where more than 22,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained. respective countries participate in the mission, and training is conducted in many locations in Europe.