King Charles III has visited a training ground in southwest England where Ukrainian troops are receiving updated warfare training.
His Majesty arrived at the site accompanied by the Chief of the General Staff, Sir Patrick Sanders, and was dressed in a dark army green jacket and beige trousers, reprising the main colours of any army camouflage uniforms.
The King looked on as Ukrainian recruits received training in “hostile environment survival, weapons handling, marksmanship, field craft, first aid and law of armed conflict awareness”, according to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson.
This specific group of soldiers is undergoing a short 35-days course offered by the 1st Battalion of the Irish guarda and the Ranger Regiment of the UK, in collaboration with many international partners, but Operation Interflex has been offering a wide range of training options to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Operation Interflex is the name of the international effort led by the United Kingdom that has been put into place for personnel from many countries in the world to offer training to Ukraine, and has received the knowledge of personnel from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Lithuania, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland.
The programme is set to train “and drill the Armed Forces of Ukraine using battle-proven British Army expertise, allowing them to accelerate their deployment, rebuild their forces, and scale-up their resistance”, according to the Palace.
King Charles has undergone training in all branches of the British Armed Forces, and is currently the Commander in Chief, meaning that he must’ve felt a familiarity feeling as he watched the training.
His Majesty also had the opportunity to speak both with the soldiers receiving training and with the personnel imparting it, and he was heard saying to Ukrainian troops: “You are amazing. I don’t know how you do it. I am full of admiration”.
New Zealand Army Major Tony Harris, who was conducting the training session, said afterwards that he and the King spoke about the fact that the conflict has seemingly marked “a return to trench warfare”, adding that “Because of the really stout defence the Ukrainians have put in […] the large part of holding the line is digging in and preparing for the worse”.
Last week, the British Armed Forces announced that they had reached their target of 10.000 Ukrainian troops trained in 6 months, with a further 20.000 set to receive training throughout 2023.
This visit comes as the world is preparing to mark the sombre occasion of the 1 year anniversary of this conflict, on Friday 24th February. It was also made on the same day that US President Joe Biden travelled to Kyiv and held a meeting with President Zelenskyy, clearly demonstrating that the West’s support for the country is still intact 361 days on.
