Ukrainian Army soldiers learned how to use infantry, armoured vehicles and artillery to clear trenches during recent training in Poland.
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Ukrainian Army soldiers learned how to use infantry tactics, armoured vehicles and artillery to clear trenches during recent training in Poland.
The training was the culmination of weeks of efforts for the soldiers, who are assigned to a Ukrainian airborne battalion. Most of them had no military experience prior to arriving in Poland, a Ukrainian officer who observed the training said, but thanks to the effort of Allied trainers, they now know how to shoot, move and communicate effectively. The training was conducted by Belgian, French and Polish instructors at the Combined Arms Training Command (CAT-C) in western Poland, which was established as part of the European Union’s efforts to support Ukraine. NATO Allies trained thousands of Ukrainian soldiers at CAT-C, in order to help them repel the full-scale invasion of their country launched by Russia in February 2022.
This NATO Multimedia footage, shot at Wędrzyn earlier in December and released this week, includes footage of Ukrainian soldiers conducting a training assault on a trench line, as well as interviews with Ukrainian and Polish soldiers.
* Due to operational security restrictions, the faces of all Ukrainian forces are blurred, and the identities of the Ukrainian and Polish soldiers interviewed are withheld.
Shot list:-
- 00:00 ~ Ukrainian Army soldiers charging trench line
- 00:10 ~ Ukrainian Army soldiers moving through trench line
- 00:34 ~ Ukrainian sniper keeping watch from trench line
- 00:38 ~ Ukrainian soldiers clearing trench line
- 00:46 ~ French Army VAB armoured personnel carriers advancing during exercise
- 00:53 ~ French army trainer leaving trench line following simulated assault
- 01:00 ~ Polish soldiers standing in formation
- 01:04 ~ Ukrainian soldiers move out following exercise
- 01 :14 ~ Soundbite (Ukrainian) ~ Ukrainian soldier: “We are now at a training ground in Poland and preparing soldiers. Yes, most started working, generally, with zero experience. Now these people can tactically move, perform certain tasks, know how to communicate correctly, transmit information over the radio and, thus, they are more prepared.”
- 01:36 ~ Soundbite (Ukrainian) ~ Ukrainian soldier:: “In principle, winter is generally the most difficult time for combat operations, because it is difficult to move during the winter. The enemy’s equipment basically sees us, and our troops, and our equipment through thermal imagers, mainly through drones. Therefore, in the winter we will need to stay in place.”
- 01:56 ~ Soundbite (Ukrainian) ~ Ukrainian soldier:: “Thanks to the support of our foreign partners, our soldiers can train under peaceful skies in a calm environment, which gives an advantage in their training.”
- 02:07 ~ Soundbite (Polish) ~ Polish Officer: “What we saw today was a demonstration of the practical capture of a trench, a platoon’s point of resistance, simulated by the French side and by French instructors, where a company of airborne infantry practised as a mechanised subdivision and led an assault on the resistance point of elaborate fortifications.”
- 02:28 ~ Soundbite (Polish) ~ Polish Officer: “There are many countries that participate and deploy combat assets and instructors. In general, there are more than 20 of them, and the vast majority are member states of the European Union, as well as countries cooperating on a bilateral basis with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
- 02:47 ~ Soundbite (Polish) ~ Polish Officer: “The army training ground centre in Wędrzyn provides the best conditions and the most diverse in terms of preparation of Ukrainian soldiers. It provides conditions with the use of water obstacles, provides conditions in varied terrain, such as in open ground, in built-up areas, which is the greatest value, and in forest land. It creates conditions for training various types of troops, starting from infantry, through mechanised subdivisions of tanks, to other specialised subdivisions.”
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