Inside Ukraine’s SECRET base where Brits and Americans train troops to blitz Russia

Inside Ukraine’s SECRET base where Brits and Americans train troops to blitz Russia

this is the top secret base run by British and American ex soldiers deep within the Ukrainian Forest the team here Trident Defense Initiative run by Dan Ridley a former soldier in the British army is taking Ukrainian troops from the front line and giving them Refreshers the work that they’ve done here has been going on for the last two months they’ve been at various bases beforehand and in the process of the last two years Dan Ridley and his team have trained up an extraordinary 14,000 troops ready for the front line your training base here in the hary region um it’s it’s ramped up significantly hasn’t it in the last few weeks with the Russians attacking uh from the border and how difficult is that for you and for the training that you’re trying to provide correct yeah so uh especially from the beginning of this year we’ve seen a massive upscale in strikes in the hark region um and then over the last few weeks when the Russians began this offensive operations over the Border uh that makes job far more difficult we have to as you can see use uh many different locations uh very non-descript locations um and we have to move around a lot to uh to accommodate to that threat and the type of soldiers that you’re getting you’re not just getting soldiers are you you’re getting police officers as well we’re providing training to a wide array of students military guys police guys from Patrol police up to the guys that we have now like special police units obviously the wars very fill on these guys are needed all over the place two things they don’t have the time for they don’t have the time to head to the West for training uh that’s why we you know have to move up and provide training to them these guys uh are coming either off the front line or off a rotation um and then coming for what is supposed to be rest but it needs to be you know educational rest and how do you see the next few weeks months going the Russians thr bodies into the conflict and Equipment into the conflict uh and then that is effectively slowed down by the amount of support that we get the Americans providing more support we’ve seen that arrive here we’ve seen new weapons that have never been used before in Ukraine west of weapons employed against the Russians so we’re seeing a direct sort of cause and effect of that Western support being used directly here second it was unlocked to sort of hold the Russians back Dan can you just take us through uh Trident Defense Initiative what it does how long it’s been running we’re a military training organization we’ve been training Ukrainian soldiers for about 2 years now we’ve just recently hit 14,000 graduates of all our courses um we run a wide array of what I call combat preparation as opposed to training for the largest organization of its kind in Ukraine train combat Medics infantry soldiers drone Pilots Engineers uh those basic sort of core skills that these soldiers require we can’t say exactly where we are for operational security reasons this isn’t the first base you’ve had is it because you’ve been targeted before by the Russians that’s correct yeah unfortunately uh the region that we’re in and the the operational environment that we’re in uh you know uh locations across the region and across Ukraine as as a whole in general uh are regularly targeted by the the Russian sorry we’re just going to point out the things that you did wrong we’ll get four guys do a couple runs everyone else will just watch from outside they’ll get what they need and then we’ll get into more like uh instruction best way to describe it as a very unique set of challenges because we have small facility small amount of staff and then the courses the classes the dudes are always different so I decided to come over here I wanted to put in some time training with the guys but now probably in the next month or so I’ll probably go join a Ukrainian unit what are you doing here preparing it to show them how to how ticket yeah I’m just just like basic oneman fighting hole we call it uh skirmisher Ranger grave this is just made for one guy and then you would have Twan uh Buddy Team and the Buddy Team or the buddy would dig one right next to it and then after these are dug you would dig one just in front that’s deep enough for you to stand in so these are the ones you dig first because they don’t take very long to dig and if something happens while it’s going on you at least have something something to work out of one the biggest challenges facing Ukraine is having enough skilled soldiers to fight in in the second year we we’re now into the third year really of the war and both sides have suffered huge losses in terms of men who’ve been killed and Men who’ve been injured and so replacing them is absolutely essential and both sides are in a in a battle or in a race to replenish their Armed Forces so any training of Ukraine’s Armed Forces is a of course a huge boost I know that with interlex it started out being a a 3-we program I think that was expanded because the risks the the the dangers that Ukrainian soldiers are facing on the front line fighting in trenches out of bunkers often in World War I style conditions they’re horrific and it’s incredibly dangerous and if you don’t know what you’re doing you’re less likely to survive so Ukraine has to balance the need to have skilled trained soldiers on the front with the uh pressure to have them on the front now and of course you know in many cases particularly for interflex and possibly also for Trident Defense Initiative as well they’re taking unskilled civilians people who haven’t been soldiers before doctors lawyers nurses teachers and turning them into soldiers and that’s a you know that’s a real challenge it’s phenomenal especially when you consider you know that this is a Grassroots organization set up by former uh former British uh servicemen and joined by International colleagues you know Americans as well and this isn’t state sponsored this is backed by the ukrainians uh this is endorsed by the ukrainians but this is something that they’ve gone ahead and done because they want to make a difference British troops uh are running something called operation interflex which is training Ukrainian soldiers outside of Ukraine training BR training Ukrainian soldiers predominantly in the UK the reason that training isn’t happening in Ukraine is twofold one is is because we’re Britain to send soldiers to Ukraine it risks triggering a NATO Article 5 conflict and what do I mean by that well if British soldiers are killed in an act of War by Russia then that could be considered probably would be considered an act of war against the United Kingdom and an attack on United Kingdom or United Kingdom assets or individuals Personnel should in theory trigger an article 5 response is when all of the NATO allies come together to the collective defense of of the country that’s been attacked so reason number one is uh British forces are not uh based in Ukraine apart from a small contingent protecting uh the embassy out there uh to avoid that kind of uh confrontation number two is is just uh the risks training in Ukraine is more dangerous than training outside Ukraine because Russian missiles can reach every inch of Ukrainian territory and they have struck you know almost all of Ukraine’s major cities plus many more you plus many more targets this is what’s left of basili and Elena’s house it was hit this morning at 2:00 a.m. by the Shahi drone they were in a back bedroom the windows were blown inwards and they managed to escape through the frames uh in in all they had on and if you see around me it’s just Twisted Metal the charred remains of the the wooden beams um it’s completely devastated it’s it’s hard to know which room is which because it is so blackened and so charred you need to understand the whole world needs to end with Putin if we will not stop by ourselves help of yours and the whole other world uh he won’t be stopping and you will have the war in London and around your home so please understand this the real question or at least the concern is is this training enough and I know that one of the challenges that interflex has faced in this country is the short time span they have they’re taking civilians they’re taking teachers doctors lawyers Farmers uh who have been who signed up to fight and they’re trying to turn them into infan teers but there’s only so much you can teach them in the short time frame available and initially I think it was only 3 weeks it was then expanded to make it longer because they realized people need more skills if they’re going to survive the horrific conditions on Ukraine’s front line I mean in some cases it is you know World War I style trench warfare people are living in bunkers fighting from trenches getting hammered by heavy artillery and it takes skills to stay alive that’s why this training is important uh and it’s ideally in an Ideal World obviously these soldiers would get more training but that has to be weighed up that has to be balanced with the need to get soldiers to the front now

AT A secret base protected by a vast woodland canopy, British ex-soldier Dan Ridley casts his eye over the latest Ukrainian recruits.

From a raised wooden platform overlooking a maze of rooms he watches them move swiftly from door to door. But so too is everything here.

The wooden huts nearby, where troops are undergoing combat medical training, have laid dormant for more than 15 years and are crumbling. It is a wonder they are still standing.

But by the end of this week, Dan, 28, and his team of instructors at Trident Defense Initiative (TDI) will have trained over 14,000 Ukrainian soldiers since the start of the war.

The Sun was yesterday given exclusive access to the British-run HQ which is located just a few miles from the frontline in Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv.

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