Ukrainian troops train in Poland for harsh winter warfare.

Within a snow-covered field in western Poland, Ukrainian soldiers are receiving training in trench warfare. This training comes just a few days before they are scheduled to be sent to the front lines in a grinding battle of attrition against Russia.

Some of the media organizations who were invited to see the training this week included Reuters. The training was carried out near Wedrzyn, which is around 40 kilometers away from the German border. Soldiers from Poland, France, and Belgium were the ones who carried it out.

“Most of the people have actually no military experience and they are taught how to execute some basic tactics,” according to a Ukrainian soldier. “We are taught how to use weapons in urban areas and in trenches.”

The Combined Arms Training Command, formed as part of the European Union’s attempts to assist Ukraine’s military, was responsible for carrying out the training. Fourteen of the twenty-seven member states of the bloc have participated in the exercises.

According to Lieutenant General Michiel van der Laan, Director General of the European Union Military Staff, “We will continue to adapt because the situation on the battlefield is changing every day.”

In February 2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine, and it already occupies about a quarter of the country’s land. The Ukrainian counteroffensive, ongoing since June, has not yet achieved any significant breakthroughs.

General Valery Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has stated that the conflict is progressing toward a new stage of static and attritional battle, which may allow Moscow to reestablish its military might.

There is a possibility that the weather may make operations much more difficult when the brutal winter cold begins to set in.

Regarding the conflict, I would agree that the winter season is the hardest. According to the Ukrainian soldier, “It severely restricts our movement and manoeuvrability while the adversary is able to see us clearly through heat cameras and drones.”

A second Ukrainian soldier stated that the training the forces were receiving in Poland would assist them in making headway in the counteroffensive while there.

“One of the most essential aspects of this battle is the fighting that takes place in the trenches… I am of the opinion that enhancing our soldiers’ capabilities in this area would be beneficial to their success on the battlefield,” he stated.