Newly recruited Ukrainian soldiers train for frontline deployment in the Donetsk region as Kyiv approaches a period of uncertainty.
On a cold winter’s day in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a group of soldiers, newly recruited, loaded their weapons and ran through snow-dusted trenches firing during drills designed to prepare them for real combat against Russian forces.
The men from Ukraine’s 24th Mechanised Brigade, named after King Danylo, are a combination of both new recruits, who’ve never fought and are not battle-trained, and others who were transferred from rear positions to train for the frontlines.
Their training is set to last 45 days and is designed to be extensive enough to cover every aspect of tactical action that they’ll need when they’re deployed to the battlefield.
With the conflict approaching the third anniversary, the future remains clouded for Kyiv as US President Donald Trump takes office.
After his return to the White House, Trump told reporters that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had informed him he wanted to make a peace deal, and expressed hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin would follow suit.
The 47th US president says Putin would be destroying Russia by failing to make a deal, as he pointed to Russia’s economic woes, like its soaring inflation, after years of western economic pressure, sanctions and trade isolation that have crippled the Kremlin’s economy.
Trump who vowed during his campaign trail to end the war on his first day in office has since backtracked and revised his offer to a “more realistic” six-month timeline.
His nominee for Special Envoy to Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has expressed optimism, saying a deal could be brokered within 100 days.
“Already, the current President of the United States Mr. Trump can stop this war and we all understand that,” said one serviceman who goes by the call-sign Kurt.
“The only help he can give today is weapons, if he can’t stop this war instantly,” added Kurt, who transferred to the brigade from a rear position in southern Ukraine.
Earlier in January, a Trump aide suggested that Kyiv can increase its pool of troops by lowering the age of conscription. Instructors at the training ground however say there is no shortage in men willing to join the fight, arguing that there is no need to lower the conscription age to below 25 year old males.
“Eighteen years is a very young age. These guys haven’t formed yet. They have no life experience, let alone combat experience,” said one serviceman who goes by Volodymyr.
“If a guy wants to go (to war), then he should be free to make the decision to or, if he consciously wants it, he understands that he can do it at 18 years, then there is no problem. To make it compulsory for everyone, I think it is wrong.”
Trump has often criticised his predecessor – Joe Biden – for his support for Ukraine, both financially and militarily. In the wake of his campaign trail, Trump routinely promised to end support for Kyiv when he takes office, sending shockwaves through Ukraine, who relies largely on the United States to continue fending off Russian aggression.
Trump and Zelenskyy had met multiple times in recent months, once in his New York Trump Tower, and again in Paris at the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Though Trump appears to have relaxed his anti-Ukraine stance after talks with Zelenskyy, the world still awaits to see what the new US President’s four years in office will mean for Ukraine.
