ADF intensifies Ukraine troop field training ahead of spring offensive

Australia’s defence force has intensified training of Ukraine troops with explicit battlefield simulations. WARNING: Graphic images

The Australian Army has intensified its training of Ukraine troops with graphic battlefield simulations ahead of the expected spring offensive by Russian forces.

The step-up in training by the 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment and 1st Health Battalion is now involving field training with section assaults on forest strongholds.

With little progress in the bogged trench warfare during winter, likened to scenes from WWI, both Ukraine and Russia are now poised to launch offensives along a 1900km frontline, with the Kremlin particularly desperate to secure the strategic Bakhmut city in Ukraine’s east.

Ukrainian trainees receive valuable first-aid and casualty handling lessons from Australian Army medical personnel. Picture: Cpl Jonathan Goedhart

This has led to the ADF’s 70 Operation Kudu personnel in the UK to train Ukraine troops in “fire and movement” section counter attacks, also known as leap frogging assaults and preparing them for the likelihood of dealing with battlefield casualties. The training also includes taking prisoners.

One of the ADF commanders in the field said it was about “increasing survivability skills” and taking the initiative in the assault.

Using a simulated casualty, an Australian Army soldier from the 1st Health Battalion oversees medical training during the first rotation of Operation Kudu in the UK. Picture: Cpl Jonathan Goedhart

The shift to field training from static weapons handling last month came as the US President Joe Biden made a stunning surprise visit to Ukraine capital Kyiv in a symbolic show of support on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the conflict.

The US leader pledged another $US500 million in support on top of the already $US50 billion the US has already provided for munitions including missiles and early warning detection radars.

A Ukrainian trainee prepares to conduct an anti-armour ambush during the ADF-led Operation Kudu field phase training. Picture: Cpl Jonathan Goedhart

He spent five hours in the capital with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a defiant display of Western solidarity, the president getting a taste of the terror Ukrainians have to live with as air raid sirens wailed during a visit to the spectacular gold domed St Michael’s Cathedral.

The Kremlin had been formally advised hours earlier of the secret visit, with the president’s entourage not flying in on Air Force One but rather an Air force C-32 modified Boeing 757.

US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in front of St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral as he arrives for a visit in Kyiv. Picture: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

He described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war brutal and unjust but “one year later Kyiv stands”.

“He’s counting on us not sticking together,” President Biden said of his Russian counterpart. “He thought he could outlast us. I don’t think he’s thinking that right now. God knows what he’s thinking, but I don’t think he’s thinking that. But he’s just been plain wrong. Plain wrong.”

US President Joe Biden walks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as air raid sirens wail. Picture: Evan Vucci

The trip was three months in the planning and designed to upstage Russia on the eve of the one-year anniversary later this week and involved the president on a secret flight from Germany to Poland then a 10-hour train ride from Przemysl in Poland to Kyiv.

Mr Biden declared the world stood with Ukraine before making a visit to Poland for high level meetings with NATO partners to discuss Ukraine’s pleading for long range missiles and fighter jets.

President Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s conflict would determine the world order based on rules and humanity.

“It is right now and here in Ukraine that the future of a world order based on rules, humanity and predictability is being decided,” he said during his nightly address to the nation, that he has maintained throughout the war.