Ukraine’s counteroffensive fortunes may hinge on heavy artillery training in English fields

Ruslan, who declined to provide his last name, was a construction engineer before Russia invaded his homeland of Ukraine last year. Six days later he joined the army with no military experience. Less than 18 months on, his job is to teach his fellow countrymen how to fire heavy artillery. The learning curve is steep and scary when you’re fighting for freedom.

Ruslan was among a group of Ukrainian soldiers on an artillery training course in partnership with the British army at a secret location in southwest England this week. UK soldiers had previously trained Ukrainians to fire the guns and others in “train the trainers” courses. Those Ukrainians were now being supervised as they trained their comrades on the range.

To a soundtrack of big guns blasting shells across the hills behind him, Ruslan stood in a muddy English field and reflected on how his life had pivoted from building things to blowing them up.

“Never in my life did I think I’d be standing here like this in England,” he said, speaking through a translator. “I thought maybe I’d come to the UK as a tourist. But as a soldier? Never! But we will fight to victory. I have no doubt that we will win. We will win with the help of those supporting us.”

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Dmitro, Ruslan’s translator, used to run the marketing department of a Kyiv IT company. Now he is a member of Ukraine’s national guard, tasked with helping his comrades tell the story of their battle against invasion to an international audience. This time, however, he was also keen to make a point of his own.

“I want people to know that the British soldiers really treat us as allies,” he said. “It is the truth. It’s not like they train us because they were ordered to do it. You can see they want to. There is chemistry in the relations between us.”

A clear bond has developed between Ukraine and the UK in the last 18 months that is detectable at almost every level of British society. Unlike in the US, there appears to be almost no political or public prevarication here about continuing to back Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.

Rishi Sunak’s UK government and its opposition don’t agree on much. But on this issue, there is a unanimity absent in every other sphere of public policy.

“There may be a change [in government] to Labour next year, but there will be no change in Britain’s resolve to stand with Ukraine, confront Russian aggression and pursue [Vladimir] Putin for his war crimes,” John Healey, Labour’s shadow defence secretary, said earlier this month.

“If UK military support for Ukraine is accelerated ... this will have Labour’s total backing.”

For a country with a moribund economy, a strained exchequer and an inflation crisis, the UK’s military support has been considerable. After the US, which has committed close to $45 billion (€40 billion) to Ukraine’s military defence, the UK has put up the second most of any nation with £2.3 billion (€2.7 billion) of direct military support last year and a commitment to match that in 2023.

Its support has included 10,000 anti-tank missiles, about 100 anti-aircraft guns, Challenger tanks and Storm Shadow missiles, while it has also trained about 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

But in the latest, grinding, attritional phase of the war, one of the UK’s more recent donations could prove vital. As Ukraine tries to break down stubborn Russian defences in the south, it was reported last week that it is increasingly turning to its artillery units to batter its enemy’s lines instead of tanks.

Britain has just sent three batteries to Ukraine of the AS90, a highly mobile and heavy artillery gun that is capable of pounding enemy forces. It was this weapon that Ruslan was instructing his comrades to use in England this week, under the watchful eyes of British commanders.

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Pretty soon, a direct line may run from the southern England artillery training fields to Ukraine’s fortunes at the front lines around Zaphorizhia in its occupied southeast, where artillery may decide the battle.

“The AS90 is one of the best guns in the world,” said Staff Sgt Perkins, a UK gunnery instructor who was helping the Ukrainians this week. The British ministry of defence requested that first names were not used of any UK personnel at the training base.

“Today is the confirmation of all the training we have done with [the Ukrainians] in the last few weeks. It’s live firing – the cherry on the cake. They’re at the standard they need to be at now to be effective on the battlefield.”

The AS90 has been in service since the early 1990s, but remains revered by artillery operators for its ease of use. It has a range of 25km and is mounted on a tracked vehicle that can drive at more than 50km/h, giving it mobility as well as the ability to batter Russian forces.

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On the day we visited, the Ukrainians were firing shells 7km over English fields on the range. When asked what they were actually targeting, a UK commander said it was a combination of “burnt-out cars, bushes and scars on the ground”.

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That afternoon, the Ukrainian trainees fired 300 live AS90 shells, each release heralded by a deafening thwack that reverberated around the nearby hills like thunder. Soon these recruits will be firing shells at Russian positions for real.

Like Dmitro, Staff Sgt Perkins was quick to point to the camaraderie that has developed between the UK and Ukrainian soldiers. They stay in separate barracks but they eat their meals together every day.

The UK soldier said he had spoken to some of the Ukrainians about what he had experienced in Afghanistan, while they had told him what they had witnessed in their own country.

“As brothers, we have shared it,” said the staff sergeant.

Ruslan, meanwhile, was focused on teaching his countrymen how to handle the AS90.

“Please tell everybody that we really like the weapon. It is an easy gun. We would like more of them.”