AP – Poland’s president and defence minister met on Monday with Polish and foreign instructors intensively training Ukrainian troops to operate the German-made Leopard 2 tanks that some European countries and Canada have offered Kyiv to help fight the Russian invasion.
President Andrzej Duda and Minister Mariusz Blaszczak also watched Leopard 2 training at a military base and test range in Swietoszow, in southwestern Poland.
The training is part of the European Union’s (EU) military assistance to Ukraine, but Canadian instructors also have a role, as do Norwegians.
Taking part are Ukrainian tank crews from units fighting in the east of the country. The intensive training lasts up to 10 hours a day, including weekends, the Polish military said. Instruction is also being held in Germany.
Duda voiced hope the tanks would help Ukrainian forces “in a much more efficient way to defeat the enemy”.
He said the Ukrainian trainees have come straight from the front line. “You can see in their faces that these people have gone through terrible things, but they are determined to defend their homeland.”
A Polish instructor, Senior Staff Warrant Officer Krzysztof Sieradzki, said the Ukrainians are so motivated to learn everything fast that the instructors “have to hold them back and transfer knowledge to them in small batches”.
The trainees’ commander, Major Vadym Khodak, said they all have combat experience.
“They didn’t come from the street, they’ve been fighting on our tanks for a long time, so I think learning how to operate these tanks will be a lot easier,” said Khodak, who’s from Dnipro in eastern Ukraine.
Khodak said the modern tanks would be a great help.
