In Poland, the French army has already trained 1,600 Ukrainian soldiers

In urban conditions, from brick houses with broken windows, French instructors develop in small groups, covered by snipers on the roofs. In front of them, about twenty Ukrainian soldiers are watching the maneuver. Arriving in Poland for training, they will soon go into battle.

About 200 French soldiers, including 120 instructors, have been stationed in this Polish camp since February, the location of which must remain secret for security reasons. “Together with our Polish comrades, we are responsible for training Ukrainian infantry battalions for 4-5 weeks,” that is, about 500 people per month, explains Colonel Benois.

“The deadlines are very tight, given the need of the Ukrainian army for a fast combat strength, but we are getting exactly the right results,” the officer comments. In just a few months, France has already trained 1,600 Ukrainian troops in Poland as part of the European Union Assistance Mission for Ukraine (EUMAM), in addition to the 3,600 trained on its soil since 2022.

All aspects of combined arms combat are presented here: infantry combat, lighting, assault, artillery support, mine clearance, urban combat … Fields in which the French army has gained solid experience, from Afghanistan to the Sahel. The French also came with about thirty advanced armored vehicles (VABs) intended for transfer to Kyiv. In the meantime, Ukrainian crews are training on them, which will use them on the battlefield tomorrow.

“He’s your tourniquet”

The combat ambulance is also part of the modules, as Ukraine suffers heavy losses in battles with the Russians. “Your tourniquet is fine,” the French instructor commented as he watched a Ukrainian provide emergency care to a falsely wounded comrade with a bloodied thigh. The interpreter translates the conversation.

Further powerful explosions are heard as a small group of soldiers storm the gutted building. Dozens of shell casings are scattered all over the paving stones. Yellow-blue stripe on the arm, Ukrainian soldiers are concentrated and not talkative. In the detachment there are soldiers in the prime of life, with confident gestures, others are much younger and have not yet known fire.

“I came here to improve the characteristics of my soldiers who already have experience, and to train those who did not have combat experience, as most of them do. This is very important because they will have to go and fight,” testifies a Ukrainian officer in a camouflage uniform, whose eyes are hidden by ballistic goggles, and agrees to answer on condition of strict anonymity.

“Some have experience, but they don’t stop there,” says French Captain Joseph. “In general, we talk a lot about technology. But they tell us very little about what happened before and what happened after.” At the end of the day, the French and Ukrainians return to their quarters and do not mix.

Don’t Create “Too Personal” Links

“I told the guys who left to train Ukrainians: be careful not to make too personal connections,” says the French officer. “Some Baltic friends established very close relations with the Ukrainians,” but most of these soldiers, subsequently stationed in the Bakhmut area, “no longer responded to WhatsApp and exchanges. This gave rise to post-traumatic syndromes in coaches.

At the military level, “this mission is very interesting for our instructors,” Army Chief of Staff General Pierre Schill told AFP. “It is beneficial for them to teach Ukrainians, who, in turn, teach us something. As trust develops, there may be an exchange of views between Russians about the use of drones or the tactics they have observed,” he explains.

This training is one of the components of French support in Kyiv: equipment sales, maintenance and spare parts, financial support. In total, French aid amounts to 1.46 billion euros, which puts Paris in 11th place among countries supporting Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW).

“We will continue to help you. We are going to the NATO summit in Vilnius (Tuesday and Wednesday – ed. note) and over time we will ensure the solidarity of the allies,” French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu promised in Poland in front of the Ukrainian troops that are fighting “also for us, for respect international law and our values”.