Since Russia invaded Ukraine, NATO Allies have begun to upgrade Ukraine's arsenal by supplying advanced tools. Kyiv is now waiting for the HIMARS system from the USA and Great Britain.

But the process of training soldiers to use this equipment has become a serious obstacle.. Ukrainian junior sergeant Dmitry Pysanka and his squad direct an obsolete anti-tank gun on the southern front. And they faced exactly this problem, writes the New York Times.. Peering into the sight of the gun, Sergeant Pysanka sees a kaleidoscope of numbers and lines. If these data are read correctly, they should help him calculate for a shot at Russian forces.. However, in the chaos of battle, mistakes are common.. More than a month ago, artillery unit commanders on the front line received a more advanced tool - a high-tech laser rangefinder for aiming received from the West.. But there is a problem: no one knows how to use it.

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The JIM LR rangefinder looks like high-tech binoculars. According to the Ukrainian military, he was most likely transferred to the United States as part of military-technical assistance. The thing is really not bad and can help to more effectively use an anti-tank gun built back in 1985.. JIM LR helps to view targets at night and determine the distance to them, collect information about the direction and GPS coordinates. Some soldiers know how to use this technique. But in recent days they have been sent to other positions. Therefore, the unit in the south was left face to face with instructions.

“I was trying to figure out how to use it by reading the instructions in English using Google Translate,” Sergeant Pysanka said..

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On Monday, the UK promised Ukraine HIMARS, which could improve the range and accuracy of Ukrainian artillery.. A few days earlier, US President Joe Biden also confirmed that his country would send similar weapons.. The publication recalls that the heaviest fighting continues in the Donbass, and in particular in the city of Severodonetsk. Over the weekend, the Ukrainian military recaptured positions in the city. But on Monday, they had to retreat as the Russian army stepped up its artillery shelling, said Serhiy Gaidai, head of the Lugansk regional administration.. The day after a perilous trip to Lysychansk near Severodonetsk, President Volodymyr Zelensky clearly described to reporters the challenge facing the Ukrainian military: “There are more enemy forces. They are more powerful. But we have every chance to fight in this direction.”.

The Ukrainian authorities are often called to provide the Ukrainian military with advanced Western weapons and equipment, linking hopes of victory with the supply of anti-tank missiles, howitzers and satellite-guided missiles..

“But in addition to the tools of war themselves, the Ukrainian military needs knowledge on how to use them.. Without preparation, the same problem that Sgt. Pysanka's unit had to deal with their only rangefinder will become more widespread and widespread, ”the publication writes, adding that the failed US approach to equipping the Afghan army without massive logistical support could be repeated..

“Ukrainians tend to use Western equipment, but training is needed to maintain it. Some things are difficult to rush,” said Michael Kofman, director of Russian research at the CNA Institute..

The U.S. and NATO countries have been training the Ukrainian military since before the outbreak of full-scale war, but not with some of the advanced weapons they are sending now.. From 2015 to the current year, American instructors have trained 27,000 Ukrainian soldiers. In February, when Russia went on a full-scale invasion, there were about 150 American military advisers in Ukraine. But they were all withdrawn. Since the beginning of the war, the United States has allocated 54 billion to help Ukraine, and also sent a number of types of weapons.

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But in order to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, the Biden administration refused to send military advisers to Ukraine so that they could teach the Ukrainian military how to use the new systems.. At the same time, it was decided to conduct exercises outside the country. This created big problems for the Ukrainian military, such as Sergeant Andriy Mykyta, who serves in the border troops of Ukraine.. He completed a short training course from the NATO military, thanks to which he knows how to use NLAW anti-tank missiles.. Now he has to travel between positions, trying to teach other comrades in arms. According to Mikita, in many cases, Ukrainian soldiers themselves learn how to use NLAW by watching videos on the Internet and testing missiles in practice..

“But there are types of weapons that cannot be mastered only with the help of intuition: surface-to-air missiles, artillery systems, some equipment. So we need formal courses,” he explained..