By Jim Garamone & David Vergun, DOD News
This report was issued by the U.S. Department of Defense.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) — U.S. service members in Germany have begun training Ukrainian soldiers on key systems being used to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion, according to Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby.
“These efforts build on the initial artillery training that Ukraine’s forces already have received elsewhere and also includes training on radar systems and armored vehicles that have been recently announced as part of security assistance packages,” Kirby said.
U.S. Army Europe and Africa is organizing the training in coordination with Germany.
Florida National Guardsmen—who were part of the Joint Multinational Training Group in Western Ukraine and were ordered out of the country as the threat of the Russian invasion intensified—have reunited with Ukrainians in Germany and are again working to give the Ukrainians the knowledge they need to defend their country.
“The recent reunion of these Florida National Guard members with their Ukrainian colleagues, we are told, was an emotional meeting, given the strong bonds that were formed as they were living and working together before temporarily parting ways in February,” Kirby said.
The United States is not the only country training Ukrainian service members. On April 28, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand said Canadian service members were training Ukrainians on the M-777 howitzer in Europe.
This training effort is in direct support of recent U.S. security assistance packages “designed to help Ukraine win their battles today and build strength for tomorrow,” Kirby said.
These systems are necessary to counter Russia’s new push into the Donbas region of Ukraine.
This training package is just the latest in an effort that goes back to the break-up of the Soviet Union, but that intensified after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and illegally annexed Crimea. “We’re here today talking about the Florida National Guard,” he said. “But as you all know, they were preceded by others of their colleagues going back over the last eight years.”
That training effort has been key to Ukraine’s stout defense of its capital city of Kyiv and the fight they are putting up in Donbas. The training helped transform Ukraine from a Soviet-style military to a more agile and deadly force. “They have better command and control,” Kirby said. “They have better battlefield initiative. They have a competent noncommissioned officer corps that is empowered on the field of battle to make tactical decisions. That didn’t happen by accident.”
The bulk of the training on the new systems Ukraine is getting will be performed by the Florida Guardsmen. They can, of course, call on Army units in Germany to assist if they need it, the press secretary said.
U.S. officials want to make the training useful and constructive, but not onerous—meaning the Ukrainians are fighting a war in their country and do not have the time for long training classes. As such, the Ukraine military chose artillery personnel to learn to operate the M-777 howitzer. They have the background needed to operate artillery and just need to learn the peculiarities of the American system.
The same is true of radar operators. While they will receive American systems, these soldiers have already learned about radar and just need to learn what buttons to push, or what pulses mean on American sets.
These Ukrainians soldiers will then go back to Ukraine and teach their fellow soldiers how to use the equipment effectively.
“As you might imagine, these soldiers are eager to learn these new skills, but they’re also eager to apply those new skills in the conflict,” Kirby said.
The press secretary was asked about Russian nuclear saber-rattling. He said the United States continually watches the Russia’s nuclear preparations, and officials believe U.S. deterrence is positioned correctly. He said the United States takes any threats seriously and is prepared.
“I’m not going to go into the psychology of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” Kirby said. “It’s hard to look at what he’s doing in Ukraine, what his forces are doing in Ukraine and think that any ethical, moral individual could justify that. It’s difficult to look at some of the images and imagine that any well-thinking, serious, mature leader would do that. So, I can’t talk to his psychology. But I think we can all speak to his depravity.”
M777 artillery deliveries
Earlier, a senior Defense Department official said during a news conference with the press on April 28 that shipments of U.S.-made M777 155 mm howitzers continue to arrive in Ukraine.
About 60% of the 90 howitzers planned for delivery are now in Ukraine, the official said, along with 155 mm rounds.
“We do believe that these howitzers will be … very, very effective in helping [the Ukrainians] in the Donbas fight, which we’ve already seen, is deeply reliant on long-range fires, specifically artillery by both sides,” the official said.
“We certainly believe that the conditions could be set for a much longer slog here inside the Donbas given both sides’ familiarity with the terrain,” the official said. “We’ve described it as a potential knife fight, and I think it’s beginning to shape up to be exactly that.”
The reason that it seems that the fighting in the Donbas could go on a long time, the official said, is because the Russians have shorter lines of supply and communications, as well as superior numbers. The Russians are also trying to learn from their previous mistakes and are advancing cautiously.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are putting up stiff and effective resistance as well as employing their own artillery, the official said.
In the next 24 hours, more than a dozen flights were expected from the United States and that will include more howitzers and 155 mm rounds.
Other items in this shipment were reportedly Phoenix Ghost Tactical unmanned aerial systems and radars, the official said.
In the previous 24 hours, there had been almost 20 deliveries via airlift from seven nations that have been received in the region at multiple locations. The shipments include mines, small-caliber rounds, 122 mm rockets, helmets and body armor, the official said.
Since Ukrainian forces don’t have M777 artillery in their inventory, the U.S. is training Ukrainians on the use of these weapons in undisclosed areas outside of Ukraine, the official said.
Other U.S. systems the Ukrainians will be trained on include the Phoenix Ghost Tactical UAS and M113 armored personnel carriers, the official said.
In the past, this official has noted that these are train-the-trainer sessions, which means they take their knowledge back to Ukraine to conduct their own training.
As for current Russian movements, the official said that the Russians are at least several days behind where they want it to be.
“We believe that they meant to be much further along in terms of a total encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the east and they have not been able to link north with south. In fact, they’re nowhere close to linking north with south as the Ukrainians continue to fight back,” the official said.
“One of the reasons why we think that the Russians are behind schedule [is] because of the Ukrainian resistance,” the official said, noting that the U.S. and 40 other nations are helping the Ukrainians continue that defense. [IDN-InDepthNews – 01 May 2022]
Photo: Marines fire an M777 howitzer at Twentynine Palms, Calif. Credit: DOD
Original links: http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3015610/us-troops-train-ukrainians-in-germany/
http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3015463/m777-artillery-deliveries-should-help-ukraine-in-the-donbas-says-official/
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