Ukraine trains 40,000 storm brigade troops for counter offensive against Russia

Ukraine has begun training about 40,000 storm brigade troops to reinforce its counteroffensive against Russian forces who have been launching onslaughts in towns such as Bakhmut in the east.

The new brigades, formed by the Interior Ministry, would fight alongside conventional army formations, which will be boosted by modern Western combat tanks and hundreds of new troops trained by partner militaries outside Ukraine.

The brigades have catchy names: Hurricane, Spartan, Chervona Kalyna, Frontier, Rage, Azov and Kara Dag, a mountain in Crimea.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said he believed Ukraine still had considerable mobilisation potential and that his recruits included women, people with no military experience and former police officers and servicemen.

A great deal is riding on the counter-offensive for Kyiv.

A bungled and bloody attempt to seize back territory from Russian forces could dim optimism among key Western backers and push them to encourage Kyiv to seek negotiations with Moscow.

Ukraine beat back Russian forces from Kyiv last year before liberating swathes of the northeast and of the southern Kherson region. But Russian forces still occupy tracts of the east, the strategically important south and the Crimean peninsula.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine wants every inch of its land back from Moscow, which has unilaterally declared five regions of Ukraine to be part of Russia despite not controlling them all.

“For them, the objective is to liberate Ukraine,” Klymenko said of the recruits during an interview in Kyiv. “We are writing the great history of our state for many future decades.”

Ukraine launched its recruitment campaign for the storm brigades at the beginning of February.

Klymenko said it would take up to four months to train civilians without experience, but that ex-police officers or soldiers could be trained in two.

In an undisclosed location on March 24, fighters of the Border of Steel brigade were doing target practice, training to fly drones and practising how to evacuate and rescue wounded soldiers.

A shooting instructor, call sign Hassid, said the recruits were absorbing the training quickly and were highly motivated.

Border of Steel is commanded by Valeriy Padytel, who led Ukraine’s border guard forces in the defence of now-occupied Mariupol where he was captured after holding out in a huge steel works. He was freed in a prisoner swap last September.

The units have benefited from an aggressive recruiting campaign on social media and billboards with the aim of attracting highly motivated volunteers.

The drive comes as Kyiv may face growing challenges recruiting new troops.