As the fighting continues in Ukraine, the army is preparing for the counter-offensive by training thousands of soldiers. Dive into the heart of the Spartan elite unit, where we train in new weapons.
They proudly assume the motto of their Spartan Battalion, “Enemies are breaking on us”. Veles – a nickname – and his men come out of a training session in a secret base. “We did tactical exercises, how to work in pairs, as a teamsays the 44-year-old soldier. How also to treat an injured person in the area, evacuate him while shooting to protect him.”
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Since its creation in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea by Moscow, the brigade has been involved in all combats. And will be again for the Ukrainian counter-offensive. Friday, April 28, while Russia was carrying out strikes that killed 26 people, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense announced that the preparations for the counter-offensive to retake the territories occupied by the Russian army “were coming to an end” and that its launch depended in particular on the weather and the Ukrainian army.
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If this counter-offensive will take place without the American Abrams tanks, whose delivery is scheduled for the end of the year, the 230 tanks and 1,550 armored vehicles sent by NATO will be there. So, Ukraine is training with a vengeance: eight new battalions, that is to say more than 30,000 men, are being prepared.
At the front, training and training also do not stop. A good thing for Velès, because it allows you to have reflexes. “The life of our brothers in arms depends on each of us”, underlines the soldier. Like Tenth, 40, and all the fighters in their unit, they have been engaged for a year. “This is where we learned everything. We were all civilians. Me, for example, I was in the construction industry, other guys are drivers… We weren’t career soldiers”says Velès.
“The war makes us change jobs, I went from a solar panel to a gun.”
Tenth, Spartan Brigade Soldierat franceinfo
“We work 5 or 10 meters from the enemy”
The soldiers of this elite brigade participated in defending the city of Kharkiv and its region, pushed the Russians further east this fall and are returning from Bahkmout where fierce fighting is taking place. All Spartan fighters say they are ready for the counter-offensive, but without cutting corners. No question of neglecting the men or even the equipment. They are impatiently awaiting the ten new recruits even if not all of them will join them, says Sergey, 23, precisely because they are an elite unit. “It’s difficult here to know how a newcomer reacts to stress. He can block himself, panic. In this case, he will join the normal battalion because our mission is dangerous, develops the young man. We work either in direct contact, 5 or 10 meters from the enemy, or we go behind his line.
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Preparing for the Ukrainian counter-offensive also involves producing new weapons and learning how to use them. Recently, the Spartan brigade, for example, received, in addition to their Kalashnikovs, American-licensed UAR-15 machine guns, manufactured in Ukraine. A real plus, says Sergey: “It’s lighter, more precise, it’s flexible. You can change according to your needs and adjust to your size. It’s more reliable”. “In Bakhmout, I fought at night against the Wagnersremembers the soldier. I shot 1,500 rounds non-stop with that. It didn’t move, it didn’t stop.”
Ukraine: with the soldiers of the Spartan battalion – Report by Mathilde Dehimi, Arthur Gerbault and Yashar Fasylov
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