Euronews got rare access to one of Ukraine’s most elite units, the Third Separate Assault Brigade. At an undisclosed location in the Kyiv region, the trainees are being put into the realistic conditions of raging Russia’s invasion and tasked with planning and executing an assault.
At an undisclosed location in the Kyiv region, a group of Ukrainians are being put through their paces and thrown into the realistic conditions of Russia’s raging invasion, tasked with planning and executing an assault.
The trainees are all recruits who have explicitly applied to join the battle-hardened Third Separate Assault Brigade, one of the most prestigious and efficient Ukrainian units.
An all-volunteer brigade formed in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year, its troops have taken part in a number of the war’s most intense battles, from Bakhmut to Avdiivka.
More than 500 people apply to join the Third Assault Brigade every month, attracted by the unit’s battle-hardened reputation and the thorough training process.
All recruits have up to two months of early-stage basic boot camp training in the Kyiv region before being moved to a different location for the next stage. All the instructors here are injured assault troopers with firsthand battlefield experience.
This approach to training the recruits is key, says one of the instructors who goes by the callsign “Gera”.
“We are gaining momentum every day. More and more people are joining our unit because we show high professionalism both on the front line and at the recruitment stage,” Gera told Euronews.
“At the stage of basic military training they undergo a very high level of training.”
“The enemy does not stop, so the enemy needs to be stopped. If the enemy takes in quantity, we take in quality,” Gera explained.
Gera says that years into Russia’s full-scale invasion, people should be more than motivated to join the defence forces.
“Because by now, anyone should have realised that they need to take this step and defend their homeland. The fourth year,” he exclaimed.
“How can people not be motivated to take a step to defend their homeland and put an end to this war?”
Try and face your fears
It is not just the recruits who show impetus, but the civilians as well. The Third Separate Assault Brigade gives everyone a real taste of military boot camp during a so-called “Trial Week”.
For seven days, they learn how to use weapons, study battlefield medicine and improve their physical fitness.
Euronews witnessed the exercise on a clearing that serves as an improvised battlefield.
Mixed into groups with the recruits, the civilians partaking in Trial Week are learning how to move and regroup during an attack, cover their fellow soldiers, and evacuate the wounded.
Everything is as realistic and close to the actual battlefield experience as possible, except for mock-ups instead of real guns, drones and mines. Every few minutes, firecrackers explode, simulating grenades and artillery fire.
Military mobilisation in Ukraine does not involve the conscription of women. But many are here participating in Trial Week.
Euronews spoke to Valeria, a 20-year-old with a medical background who is training at the camp. She says everyone should be prepared and ready for the war.
“I can never be confident about tomorrow and I can’t be sure that tomorrow will not be the same as it was on 24 February 2022 and to have at least some basic training, a basic understanding of the situation in general, would be very good, in medicine, as well as in tactics,” Valeria said.
She feels more confident after a week of training and more prepared for everyday life in Ukraine, she says.
“Experiencing the missile and drones attacks every night, it is good to have an understanding how to provide first aid in case. I think every person should know this.”
Roman, 47, says he likewise did not have any prior military experience, which is why he wanted “to try what it would be like to actually be inside all this and see what it’s like.”
“As they say, you have to try to touch it, to taste it. People tell you one thing, but when you come and try, when you fall in the mud and lose your voice – you start to understand that it’s not that easy,” Roman told Euronews.
Just like Valeria, he advises people to come and try to face their fears. “Looking at the war from the outside, through the media, it all seems to people more scary than it really is. When you come here, you see everything in a completely different way,” Roman explained.
While Ukrainians know and understand what the war feels like, many in Europe can not fully comprehend it, he said. “In order to understand this, you need to live here in this country and understand why we are at war, the reasons in general.”
“There has never been a war like the one we are currently facing,” Gera added.
This is why, he believes, Ukraine’s experience is invaluable for foreign armies. “If before the conflicts were not on such a large scale, now we have a much larger one, where we are using the drones, artillery, and a lot of the latest weapons,” Gera pointed out.
Lots of weapons used in Ukraine today didn’t even exist during the previous armed conflicts, he says, adding that the Ukrainian army is not any weaker than foreign military, “because we are improving and innovating every day”.
“We have achieved major steps in military innovations, including unmanned weapons. We already have drones that evacuate wounded soldiers. We are changing and innovating in combat tactics, movement tactics, combat in vehicles, and the use of equipment.”
There is a lot to learn from the Ukrainian military, according to Gera. “Ukrainians will be hired as instructors not only in Ukraine,” he concluded.
