A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank missile

• British trainers have had a presence in Ukraine since Crimea invasion of 2014
• Two Ukrainian commanders told The Times their battalions have been trained by British forces in the last fortnight. One said it was to use NLAW missile launchers
• The UK has supplied Ukraine with more than 3,600 NLAWs since February
• NLAWs offer ground troops a light-weight counter to Russia’s slow moving tanks
  

Chris Jewers – Daily Mail Online April 16, 2022

British SAS troops have been training Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv in how to use British-supplied NLAW anti-tank missile launchers, it has been reported.

The training marks the first time British forces have been instructing their Ukrainian counterparts since Russia’s Vladimir Putin launched his invasion on February 24.

Two officers from separate battalions stationed both in and around the country’s capital told The Times that British Special Forces had trained their troops on two occasions over the last fortnight.

ritish military trainers have had a presence in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, but were withdrawn in February as the likelihood of Putin ordering an all-out invasion of Ukraine increased.

Reports of the British training came after Russian TV warned that Western involvement in the war – such as supplying weapons to Ukraine and training its military – meant that World War Three had already begun.

The newspaper said it had spoken to two Ukrainian commanders – Captain Yuriy Myronenko and a Kyiv special forces commander who goes by the nickname ‘Skiff’.

Myronenko said new and returning recruits in his battalion, stationed in Obolon – a suburb in the northern outskirts of Kyiv that experienced heavy fighting in the early days of the invasion – were trained by British SAS to use NLAWs two weeks ago.

Since February, the United Kingdom has delivered more than 3,600 Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAWs) to Ukraine, with Kyiv requesting more following reports that they had proven highly effective against Russian armour.

The launchers are relatively easy to use, and give ground troops a modern, light-weight counter to Russia’s vast numbers of slow-moving – and often dated – tanks.

Skiff, meanwhile, told The Times that Ukraine’s 112th battalion – to which his unit was attached at the time – had also been given training by British troops last week.

His senior commander – nicknamed bear – confirmed Skiff’s report to the newspaper. ‘They were good guys, the Brits,’ he was quoted as saying. ‘They have invited us to visit them when the war is over’.

Myronenko said that the training was vital due to the huge numbers of recruits that have signed up to the country’s resistance effort since the war broke out, meaning many were not trained on how to use the vital missile launchers before Britain pulled its troops out of the country.

He said that without the British trainers, soldiers around the country who did not receive the training had to go on YouTube to learn how to use the NLAWs – which he said take around five minutes to learn how to use.

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