The World is witnessing the Russia-Ukraine War for more than 400 days now and the war seems not to end anytime soon. Various Countries have shown their support to Ukraine to fight back against Russian Expansion while some have kept silent as their answer. The USA a few days back deployed the F-22 Raptors, the best fighter jet in the world when a Russian Su-35 destroyed one of their drones near the Russian Border in Estonia. So we can see Ukraine has got a good chunk of support. Apart from the US, the UK is also providing constant support to Ukraine where they launched an operation called Operation Interflex. Let us learn more about this operation in this article.
Operation Interflex
The British-led international military mission to train and support Ukraine’s Armed Forces is known as Mission Interflex. It commenced in July 2022 as a successor to Operation Orbital (2015-2022). Unlike its predecessor, Operation Interflex takes place in the United Kingdom and is supported by international partner contingents.
As Ukraine prepares for what is dubbed the “Spring Offensive” against Russia, a discussion has erupted about why Europe’s role in the war is being overlooked in comparison to that of the United States. The discussion is founded on the age-old concept that in fighting a war, quality manpower (in this case, the soldier’s quality and skill) is just as vital as quality weapons. As a result, while the United States has donated more than half of the $160 billion in economic, humanitarian, and military aid that Ukraine has received since the commencement of the war, Europe’s contribution is not as minor as many believe. Well if it is the USA in the frontline giving out weapons, and assistance aids, it is the UK which has been providing training to the Ukrainian Military Forces to fight against Russia. If Ukraine has stood in defying Russia till now, the UK has played a major role here because of the quality training of the Ukraine Forces by the UK.
OP Interflex: Importance of Training Ukrainian Soldiers
To begin, around 120,000 professional and well-trained Ukrainian soldiers, junior officers, and noncommissioned officers have reportedly killed or been wounded in the fight during the last year. The fact that an equal or greater number of Russian soldiers have perished or been injured (estimated at almost 200,000) is irrelevant. Aside from being a continent-sized country, Russia has more manpower to send soldiers to the battlefields than Ukraine. As a result, Ukraine urgently requires replacements. Fortunately, an increasing number of civilians in the country have been mobilised or are willing to serve as soldiers. However, they must have the ability to fire, move, communicate, and administer battle medicine.
Second, and as a corollary to the preceding argument, Ukraine faces the difficulty that, despite an influx of Western equipment, its force is traditionally designed to fight in the Russian way or style, with predominantly Russian (Soviet) weapons. Ukraine has fought the war with a mix of junior-level mission command and, at times, Soviet-style centralised command at the top. In addition, it has prioritised artillery and attrition over manoeuvre in warfare. Another Western style that Ukrainians had little knowledge of but now appear to have mastered is the irregular warfare tactics they learned from Western instructors. In reality, the methods they acquired assisted them in stopping Russian soldiers on their way to Kyiv.
Third, Ukrainian forces are currently receiving and relying on military equipment from several Western countries to replace the country’s existing stockpiles. Obviously, they must understand how to operate these systems. According to reports, while some Western weapons systems, such as Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missiles, have been simple to integrate into Ukrainian operations, many other types of non-Soviet weapons and equipment, such as artillery, air defence systems, and the German Leopard 2 and British Challenger 2 tanks, are unfamiliar to Ukrainian soldiers and require advanced training to master.
Other Countries in the Operation
Each month, the European powers appear to be running the drill named “Operation Interflex” to provide basic combat training to Ukrainian soldiers. This programme, which is led by the United Kingdom, with aid from army trainers from Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden (Australia, New Zealand, and Canada also contribute). This programme provides Ukrainian recruits with uniforms, helmets, vests, first-aid kits, and cold- and wet-weather apparel in addition to basic training. Furthermore, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, and Spain are claimed to have supplied additional training to smaller groups of Ukrainian soldiers, approximately 200 per month.
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