One Word: Training. More than 13 months into the conflict in Ukraine and the Ukrainian military isn’t only still standing but is getting ready to strike back at the Russian forces.
The Ukrainian military is getting ready to launch a large-scale counteroffensive somewhere on the battlefield in the upcoming weeks.
But to do so effectively, the Ukrainian forces have had to be trained. The United States and its allies have played a key part in that training.
The U.S. Aspect of Training
The U.S. military has trained Ukrainian volunteers for years before the conflict, but the Russian invasion changed the pace and intensity of the training.
The U.S. military started training the Ukrainian military in 2014 after the Russian invasion and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. At the same time, a low-intensity conflict began in the Donbas, where the Russian military supported pro-Russian separatists who were looking to break away from Ukraine.
The Western militaries have had to do a lot of work. To begin with, until recently, the Ukrainian military didn’t have a non-commissioned officer corps. These are the key men and women that are under the officers but above the rank and file. These are the true leaders of a military force that take the orders and vision from above and turn them into reality.
The majority of this training takes place in Grafenwoehr, Germany. But the U.S. military has been flying a number of Ukrainian troops to the United States for special training on weapons systems. Just last week, the first batch of Ukrainian troops to train on the MIM-104 Patriot air defense system finished its training at Fort Sill, in Oklahoma.
“I think our numbers stand at more than 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers making up two brigades that were trained recently. Now, one of those brigades was for the Bradleys, and one was equipped with the Strykers,” a senior defense official said recently.
In addition to the U.S., the United Kingdom has been providing important training to the Ukrainian forces.
Basic Military vs Combined Arms Training
What the UK and U.S. militaries are doing isn’t easy. On the one hand, they have to turn amateurs into professionals in a very short amount of time, while on the other hand, they have to also train the force that will win the war for Ukraine.
In addition to troops that can hold the line against the Russian assaults but might not be capable of the maneuver warfare that will defeat Russia, the West is also training Ukrainian units that will spearhead the upcoming and other future counteroffensives.
Training these units is harder as they have to be proficient in combined arms warfare, that is, the combination of several different arms, such as armor, artillery, air power, to maximize effectiveness on the ground.
The Russian military has shown great weakness in combined arms warfare. If the Ukrainians can manage to become proficient in it, they have the potential to defeat the Russian forces and liberate the rest of their country.
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Expert Biography:
A 19FortyFive Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
