They are on average 45 years old, the recruits from Ukraine. “But super motivated.” Military personnel from Havelte concluded the training of a hundred Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday. In Germany, at a secret location.
It is icy quiet on the morning apple in the middle of the snow-covered German forest. The hats come off. Lined up in rows of four, the hundred Ukrainians commemorate the fallen soldiers in their country for a minute. What’s going on in their heads? Will it be their turn in three weeks when they are sent to the front with the Russians? “I don’t want to hear that men from here have lost their lives. That is why we tried to train them as best as possible during these four weeks,” says company commander Alex, stationed in Havelte.
He speaks of men, because the average age of these Ukrainian recruits is 45 years old. This can be seen on their faces when they arrive in borrowed German uniforms. These are no longer twenty-somethings, like most novice soldiers. There are people in their fifties walking among them.
Offer ends
“The oldest we trained was 71 years old, but he was very motivated. At the beginning of our training the average age was 25 years, then 35 and now 45 years. Younger soldiers are already fighting at the front and the supply will eventually end,” says General Martin Bonn, who leads the deployment of Dutch soldiers in the training of Ukrainians in Germany. Does this mean that Ukraine is almost at the end of its supply of young soldiers? In the young age category, deliberately not everyone is called up, to prevent an entire generation from dying out, according to Bonn.
It is not clear where the trained older soldiers will be deployed. General Bonn: “The Ukrainian army leadership decides that and we do not know.” The training of the Ukrainian soldiers is part of the EU Military Assistance Mission (EUMAM).
Russia also faces a shortage of soldiers. Putin signed a decree last week to expand the Russian army with 170,000 additional soldiers. Within months, the Russian army should consist of 2.2 million personnel, including 1.3 million troops.
Sixty colleagues from the 43 Mechanized Brigade from Havelte, assisted by nineteen interpreters, taught the Ukrainian soldiers the basics of being a soldier. Because forty days of basic training in your homeland does not make you an experienced soldier. Then you are cannon fodder for the Russians at the front. “We put together the training ourselves,” says Captain Alex. “We teach them how to use their weapons, how to react when they are shot at and ammunition recognition. So: how do you recognize a mine or an unexploded grenade? And they must learn to operate in a group, a platoon and a company, in forests, trenches and built-up areas.”
Plumes of smoke
This Tuesday is the final exercise, in which all facets are discussed. The hundred Ukrainian soldiers have to conquer a village through the forests. In this case a large training village with multi-storey buildings and an open area with trenches. It takes two hours for the Ukrainians to reach the village.
That’s where the enemy is. Dutch soldiers trying to prevent the advance with large plumes of smoke and machine gun fire. The operation lasts more than two and a half hours in the cold village. That seems very slow. “True, but better slow than many deaths,” says Captain Alex.
Saturday an extensive report of the training of the Ukrainian soldiers by 43 Mechanized Brigade from Havelte.