- Ukrainian troops are putting in grueling work days to learn to operate Leopard 1 tanks.
- Experts say the training still may not be enough for soldiers in their war against Russia.
Some Ukrainian soldiers are putting in 12-hour days, six days a week for six weeks to learn how to operate Leopard tanks — a fast-tracked training aimed at keeping up with the country's slow-moving counteroffensive against Russia.
After months of appeals, Ukraine finally has some of the promised weaponry from its allies, including Leopard 1 tanks and MaxxPro armored vehicles — but they can't win the war with equipment alone. Training courses, like one detailed by Politico in Germany, are intensive, with new Ukrainian soldiers on the 6-week program, first using simulations and practicing with fake ammunition, then in real Leopard tanks.
Military officials have previously feared that Ukrainian troops were not training long enough to master the equipment fully. German Lieutenant General Andreas Marlow, who is helping run the training "crash courses" in Germany, echoed those concerns, per Politico.
"The training is of course too short," Marlow, who commands the Special Training Command of the EU Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine, told Politico. "No weapons system alone will be decisive."
The soldiers are mostly inexperienced when they arrive in Germany or at other training programs — most of them, Marlow told Politico, are military reserve soldiers or just civilians, and they've had trainees as young as 19 and as old as 71. But with a slow counteroffensive against Russia, Ukraine wants more soldiers in the field as soon as possible.
The grueling training days need to pack in as much as possible. Marlow told Politico that Ukraine is asking its soldiers to receive training to move through wooded areas, or in open areas that may have mines. As Ukraine has liberated some of its previously lost land, more mines left by occupying Russian soldiers, have been found everywhere from toys and children's books to open fields and buildings.
To date, over 6,000 soldiers have been trained in Germany, according to Politico.
"The mood among us is great," said Yevhen, a solider from eastern Ukraine, to Politico. "We want to liberate our country and secure our future."