EAST OF ENGLAND – A boom shatters the silence of the forest. The sound echoes through the trees, followed by sharp pops of gunfire.
In the distance, the trees seem to start moving. One by one, the Ukrainian soldiers who have been hidden in their midst emerge, assault rifles clutched to their fronts, running low.
They are heading towards a hand-dug trench where the three enemy soldiers, firing at them, are hidden.
Overhead, a drone hums through the canopy of the trees, surveilling the area for targets.
A British officer stands in on a training base in the east of England during Operation Interflex. (Photo: Molly Blackall/The i Paper)This is a British Army training base, but today it has been transformed to mimic the battlefields of Ukraine.
These Ukrainian troops are being taught by the British Irish Guards and partner nations including the Australians and Swedes as part of Operation Interflex, a mammoth training programme designed to strengthen Ukraine’s resistance against the Russian invasion.
More than 60,000 Ukrainians have already travelled to the UK for the operation, which ranges from six weeks of basic training to turn civilians into soldiers, up to programmes developing leaders and instructors.
Viktor has been trained twice in the UK and is soon returning to the front lines of the war in Ukraine. He said he wants to be a hero to his young sons (Photo: Molly Blackall/ The i Paper)Viktor, in his 30s, has been on both; he passed basic training two years ago, and after several stints at the front line, has been sent back to train as a platoon commander. The training undoubtedly saved lives, he says.
“When I got here I had a kind of depression. At the front lines, you get used to the constant stress. Here in the UK everything is very calm and quiet. I had to adapt,” Viktor says, sitting in a portable cabin in the base. “But its also a really good opportunity to have this time off and away from the front.”
Before the war, Viktor worked at a metal factory. His hometown, where his family still lives, is just 40 kilometres from the front line. He describes life under invasion as “constant anxiety”.
“I’ve got two young sons and I want to be a hero for my kids. I want a bright future for them in a free Ukraine,” he says.
“I haven’t seen my family, my closest loved ones, for quite a long time. That’s the hardest thing. My wife thinks my character has changed. I think I just grew up.”
‘The will to fight is not lacking’
Lance Corporal Adedeji, 22, is one of the Irish Guards training Viktor and his comrades.
“What’s going on is an attack on Europe. The lads out in Ukraine now, they’re doing a job defending Europe, and it’s in our best interest that they do that job well,” he says, his face covered in camo paint.
But the Britons working on Interflex say they learn just as much from the Ukrainians.
Lance Corporal Adedeji takes part in Operation Interflex, training Ukrainian soldiers. He says the Ukrainian soldiers teach the British troops as much as they learn (Photo: Molly Blackall/The i Paper)“As much as Interflex is an instructional operation from our side, it’s like a knowledge exchange,” he says.
“We share information with them. They share information with us, and we’re learning more and more about how Russians like to fight, the tactics they’re using, and the equipment, and how the Ukrainians combat that, which I think is quite helpful. Sometimes we show them things and they point blank tell us, this doesn’t work in Ukraine.”
Their main lesson to the Britons is how to counter drones.
Matthew Evans, the Officer Commanding 1 Company, 1st Battalion, the Irish Guards, says this is already invaluable to the UK’s security, with a wave of suspicious drone sightings over military bases in recent months and several Nato allies recording Russian drone incursions into their airspace.
“These are real threats that affect people, not only in eastern Europe… but right here at home,” he said.
“It’s been a fantastic opportunity to be able to trade tactics and techniques with the Ukrainians who have such visceral first hand experience.”
Major Matthew Evans said the Ukrainians were providing invaluable insight into drone warfare (Photo: Molly Blackall/The i Paper)Evans’ company have been bringing in British-made equipment to test and train with the Ukrainians, and have since qualified an extra 12 drone pilots.
But the core of what the UK provides is a “safe place”, away from the shelling and drones, to drill, learn and psychologically step away from the front lines.
“From a human point of view, what makes a difference is that I know when I went abroad, my family was safe. They weren’t with me when I deployed. But nowhere in Ukraine is safe from from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s missiles,” he says.
“The moral component and the will to fight is something that these people just aren’t lacking in at all.”
Emotional goodbyes as troops return to battlefield
At the end of the programme, the Ukrainian troops are given a heroes’ farewell as they begin their journey back to Ukraine and the front lines.
Living on camp together, the Britons and Ukrainians have built bonds, sharing social evenings, including cooking the classic Ukrainian dish borsch and having barbecues.
An Irish Guard piper plays the traditional Ukrainian folk song Oi u luzi chervona kalyna to the departing trainees before they board coaches to leave the training camp for the final time.
The Britons, standing with partner countries, form a guard of honour as they pass.
A Royal Irish Guard escorts trained Ukrainian soldiers as they depart UK after their training, with a guard of honour from the troops they have been working beside, during a parting ceremony in June. (Photo: Sergeant Anil Gurung/ UK MOD)“It can be quite emotional,” says Adedeji. “You become attached to the lads. You work with them day in, day out for six weeks, sometimes 11 weeks. And it can get quite sad, because the Ukrainians are very friendly. They like to share their stories. They like to give you gifts.
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“To see them go away, you know statistically in the back of your head that a lot of them aren’t gonna go home and see their families. That’s quite hard.”
Despite the peril awaiting them, the Ukrainian troops are stoic.
“We want to return back to our homeland, because we all know that we need to work and fight for our country to achieve victory,” says a soldier, known by his call sign Zeus, who was the manager of a petrol station before the war.
Do they feel afraid? “No,” he says calmly. “For us, fear hasn’t existed for a long time.”
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