Offensive tactics on the Leopard main battle tank – this is how Ukrainian soldiers are trained
STORY: Muzzle flashes across the Klietz military training area west of Berlin. Here Ukrainian soldiers are trained on Leopard tanks. This Thursday, among other things, the firing of 105 mm projectiles with the Leopard-1 is on the program. 18 months into the war, Ukraine’s requirements for training its armed forces abroad have changed. Offensive tactics and the training of military leaders are now at the top of the list, says Lieutenant General Andreas Marlow Andreas Marlow, head of the EU Special Training Command in Germany “Yes, I think what worries Ukrainians the most is the training of non-commissioned officers and Officers. Because it’s obvious that the professional soldiers have of course been in the war for a year and a half now. Many have died or been wounded, and they now need supplies of leaders, sub-leaders. And there’s quite a demand for that.” The soldiers who are training in Klietz this Thursday are already the fifth round since Germany and Denmark announced that at least 100 Leopard main battle tanks, some of which had already been mothballed, from industrial stocks would be made fit again. It makes sense to deliver the tanks to Kiev despite their age, emphasized Marlow. One of the Ukrainian soldiers who are due to be sent to the front after returning to their embattled homeland said he would have preferred the modern Leopard 2, of course, actually doing it. but he doesn’t really care. He played down questions about whether he was afraid. “We are strongly motivated to defend our motherland and that is the best antidote to fear,” he said. As part of the EU military mission EUMAM, Western troops have already trained around 6,200 Ukrainians in Germany in a wide range of skills this year. For reasons of operational safety, the trainers in Klietz did not want to give details about the Ukrainian tank crews or the number of tanks delivered.