Inside the Canadian crash course training Ukrainians on Leopard tanks
CBC
Leopard tanks rumble through the open terrain of Swietoszow day and night, their turrets swiveling rapidly to engage moving targets kilometres away.
Inside their hardened shells are battle-hardened Ukrainian soldiers, pulled from the frontlines for a 30-day crash course taught by Canadian troops at this Polish military base near the German border.
Most are already experienced on the Soviet-era tanks used by Ukraine's army. But the Leopards donated by Western nations are faster, better protected, and offer greater manoeuvrability and targeting capabilities.
"The Ukrainians have been since day one just incredible students," said Capt. Brittany Shki-Giziis of Canada's Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment. "The stakes are very high for them so they are incredibly determined."
Canada has sent eight Leopard 2 tanks from its own military inventory, part of a multi-nation effort to provide dozens of the German-built tracked vehicles to Ukraine, along with British Challenger and American Abrams tanks.
Those tanks will soon be on the frontlines – and the first class of Ukrainian tank crews to use them is already eager to put them to work.
"The goal is destroy the enemy," a Ukrainian major chuckles as three Leopard tanks pound targets on the Polish range. CBC is not naming him for security reasons, but he tells a visiting news crew that he'd long since left the military and begun his retirement when Russia invaded a year ago.
The Russian incursion changed everything.
The major says Ukrainian tenacity has surprised the Russians and the donated tanks "are causing panic."
"We need more ammunition," he quickly added.
Indeed, Ukraine's big guns on artillery and tanks consume thousands of rounds of ammunition each day in the gruelling war of attrition.
Canada has sent more than 100,000 tank rounds for Ukrainian use in training and the battlefield, along with bullets for the machine guns mounted to Leopard tanks.
The Canadian Armed Forces have trained more than 35,000 Ukrainian soldiers since 2015, after Russia began a more limited invasion of Ukrainian territory.
Canada's mission — dubbed Operation Unifier — continues to this day, but it has moved into neighbouring countries.
