As the Government extends a military mission to train Ukrainian soldiers, Kiwi troops tell of their efforts on an ‘incomprehensible’ warfield. ‘It’s in our blood to help.’

Two years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there are few signs of an end to the bloody conflict.

With signs that Vladimir Putin’s forces are beginning to break the stalemate on the frontlines, Ukrainian calls for additional support from international partners are growing in volume and urgency.

On Thursday, the Government announced that New Zealand would be upping its own contribution, including the extension to June 2025 of an NZ Defence Force deployment to Europe.

New Zealand Defence personnel have been helping to train Ukrainian soldiers since mid-2022, with over 2500 members of the country’s armed forces having learnt the basics of war from Kiwi troops through a five-week training programme in the UK.

Kiwi soldiers Private K and Private L are among those to have first-hand experience of the push to make the Ukrainians ready for battle. The pair, who spent three months training Ukrainian recruits in mid-2023, approached the work with a mixture of enthusiasm and trepidation at the daunting task they faced (the NZDF allowed the junior soldiers to speak to Newsroom on condition of anonymity).

The recruits come from a range of backgrounds, Private K says: from farmers to factory workers, bus drivers to public servants, those who have been on the frontlines since war broke out and others who are only now joining the fight. Some of the Ukrainians in his training rotation were just 18 years old, while the oldest was in his late 50s.

While interpreters were on hand to help resolve most communication problems, there was the occasional mix-up, as when Private L offered some protective earplugs to a trainee ahead of a mock battle scenario.

“He’d just run up this big hill so he was blowing really hard, and he just looks into my hand, sees the earplugs and puts them in his mouth thinking that they’re candy or something…I was cracking up for the next hour or so.”

Such moments of levity were never far away, with the Kiwis and Ukrainians sharing a sense of humour despite the grim backdrop to their work.

While the Ukrainians were happy to crack a joke, they were also taking the training incredibly seriously, Private L says.

“You want a break because you’re tired from training and you’re like, ‘Sweet, five-minute break’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, really, can we keep training? I want to learn more’…95 percent of them are some of the most motivated people.”

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Major Tony Harris, who oversaw the work of nearly 60 Kiwi trainers during an early 2023 rotation, says he was also struck by the resolve and determination of the Ukrainians preparing to defend their country.

“Everybody had a story, whether they’d been right there when the Russians were conducting their initial assault on Kyiv, or they had family that had been cut off by the Russian advance and were now in Russian-held territory, or had lost loved ones, or any range of experiences that were pretty incomprehensible to us living on the other side of the planet in a relatively secure location.”

While Harris and others were familiar with the realities of war through a combination of training and previous deployments, hearing the first-hand experiences of those in front of them added a sense of urgency to their work.

“We’d be working long hours in some pretty hard conditions, week in week out, training the soldiers as they came through. Whenever someone turns around and tells you a story like that or gives you their personal experience, you remember you’ve got nothing to complain about and that what you’re experiencing here today is nothing compared to what they’ve gone through, or what they’re about to go through.”

With just five weeks to train each batch of recruits, there is little time for the trainers to waste. The course focuses on basic fighting and communication at day and night, along with guidance on the laws of armed conflict.

“There’s those core principles of being able to survive first contact with the enemy so that they can learn from it, and to fight again and then to be lethal on that first engagement that they have,” Harris says.

Brigadier Matthew Weston, who as Land Component Commander has overseen the NZDF’s contribution to the training operation, says New Zealand’s efforts are an important show of support in a world that faces a growing array of security challenges.

“There’s a lot that relies on the rules-based international order and we need to contribute. I think helping another country to defend themselves from an aggressive invader – what greater way of demonstrating that support and commitment?”

In order to train Ukrainian troops, the New Zealand military has had to change how it trains its own soldiers, Weston says. New, Ukrainian-designed trench systems have been built at NZDF bases so Kiwi trainers can pass on the appropriate techniques, while they also have to get their heads around weapons systems being used by the Ukrainians in combat.

Then there is the unique nature of the conflict, a blend of old and new war methods he describes as “World War One but with drones”.

At a time when the NZDF is struggling with record levels of attrition, attributed in part to dissatisfaction with the use of military to guard managed isolation facilities during the Covid-19 pandemic, having such a high-profile offshore deployment is a helpful tool to keep personnel around.

“It’s rewarding, it’s challenging, it can be exciting – those things that keep people in and give them a real sense of purpose,” Weston says.

Such has been the case for Privates K and L, who both spent time at MIQ facilities but are clearly more energised by their work training the Ukrainians.

“We may be a small country, but throughout all the wars and peacekeeping missions we’ve had, we’ve played a massive role to punch well above our weight…it’s almost in our blood to help.”

Private K

Both say the deployment has given them more confidence as soldiers, with the relative seniority of their trainer roles a boon for their work at home.

“Before going over there, I’d never try to suggest something to my corporal, because he knows everything,” Private L says. “Now, if you see something that you might think is a good idea, you don’t have that apprehension about saying, ‘Oh corp, this might be a good idea’.”

Beyond the personal benefits, there is a broader principle at play, Private K adds.

“We may be a small country, but throughout all the wars and peacekeeping missions we’ve had, we’ve played a massive role to punch well above our weight…it’s almost in our blood to help. If you see people in trouble, you help – that’s the New Zealand way.”

The Government has indicated that NZDF support to Ukraine will begin to “evolve” following the extension of the deployment, moving from infantry training to specialised courses in combat engineering, casualty care and leadership among other disciplines.

But as Weston puts it, the “protracted” nature of the war means the support of New Zealand and others is likely to remain essential.

“For the Ukrainians, it’s very important that they are able to maintain a trained, fixed force that’s trained well enough to survive and fight, and their ability to keep that going and maintain their equipment stocks is going to be vital to their ability to stay in the war.”