Ukraine has started training 40,000 inexperienced recruits for a new combat brigade. Reuters news agency reported that troops may be being prepared for a possible counterattack, although the Ministry of Defense has not released any information on this.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s massive recruitment campaign started last February. Citizens are called to join combat brigades via billboards and social media. Most of the new volunteers had no military experience, and about 2.5 percent were women.
According to the ministry, it takes an average of four months to train new recruits. After that, the new brigade will fight alongside the regular troops. This was necessary, according to the ministry, because thousands of soldiers died around Bachmoet, among other things.
Unlike the regular army, the brigade will not be under the Ministry of Defense but rather the Ministry of Home Affairs. This also applies to the so-called Azov regiments, which last year held out against the Russian army for a long time at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
Eva Selderbeek
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