deaf village. Three smoke grenades quickly explode one after another. As the smoke clears, automatic bursts are heard. Men in military uniform quickly run into the building to clear it.. Cars lie upside down. A wounded soldier is carried out in agony on a stretcher to cover.

This scene is not from Ukraine, but from Kent, the usually quiet " UK helps Ukraine train soldiers. After six months of war, the Ukrainian and Russian armies are exhausted. Their forces are stretched along the front line, the length of which exceeds a thousand kilometers.. Territory control has barely changed in recent weeks. The outcome of the war will partly depend on which side can quickly make up for losses and expand its army, writes The Economist..

Ukraine wants to launch a massive counter-offensive in the coming weeks. To do this, she needs to form half a dozen new mechanized and tank brigades, said Franz Stefan Gadi, an expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.. One brigade, as a rule, consists of 4 thousand fighters. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that the Ukrainian army has 700,000 soldiers. And if you add border guards and the national guard to them, the total number of forces will reach a million. The only problem is that only a small part of these troops have the skills and experience to fight serious battles.. And that is why we need teaching abroad.

UK is trying to train 10,000 Ukrainian recruits in 120 days at relatively safe training grounds across the kingdom. Canadian military can also be seen near the maneuvering sites in Kent. Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden said they would send their instructors. Until that time, about 2 thousand Ukrainian soldiers were trained and went to Ukraine. The vast majority of recruits have no military experience.. They are taught basic infantry tactics from morning until late at night.. Major Craig Hutton said training is slow and thorough.. Particular attention is paid to mastering the skills of shooting and treating injuries in the field..

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Ukraine has at least a lot of people ready for battle. Russia is in a more difficult position. Western officials say more than half of Russian brigades and other units in Ukraine have less than 60% of their initial manpower and equipment, making them " Vladimir Putin does not want to formally declare war, which would allow young men from all over Russia to be sent to the front. He is looking for volunteers, and for this you need to offer big payouts..

About half of the regions of Russia form battalions in this way. Local national pride is being manipulated in some places to form fighting units. Many new battalions are subordinate to the Third Army Corps, which is based in Mulino near Nizhny Novgorod.. However, The Economist writes that the terminology is misleading.. The army corps usually has 15-20 thousand soldiers. The new Russian corps is much smaller. According to Tom Bullock of the intelligence firm Janes, even the term " He points to the example of the Tiger Battalion from Primorsky Krai.. Only 65 members of this battalion were trained before they were sent to Rostov on the Ukrainian border.. There they were supplemented by 130 absolutely "

These new units are better trained and better equipped than many of those Putin threw into action in April and May.. According to King's College London expert Rob Lee, then the Russians were sent to war against Ukraine after several days of preparation.. However, new units also cannot be a strike force.. Theoretically, the battalions of the Third Army Corps of the Russian Federation were to be trained for several weeks. But complaints on social media indicate that at least some of them were cooked for only a week.. Standards have dropped too.

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Instead, the Ukrainian recruits trained in the UK are 20-year-olds on average.. And they go through weeks of military training. Of course, this cannot compare with the two to three months of infantry training that American and European soldiers go through.. But the quality of instruction in Britain is likely to be much higher than in Mulino.

British drills focus on urban fighting techniques that Ukrainian soldiers will be involved in trying to liberate Kherson or defend Bakhmut. City fights are very destructive. British instructors are trying to teach soldiers how to fight without leaving infrastructure in ruins.

“This is the homeland of the Ukrainians, they want to keep their homes,” said Brigadier Justin Stenhouse.

British tactics mixed with Ukrainian ones. And the briefing is adapted to intelligence information coming from the front.. Some of the British-trained soldiers will form new reserve brigades, the rest will be sent to the front lines to replenish losses.. A British general said there was a risk that many of these under-trained Ukrainian soldiers would be wounded or killed.. Because they lack experience and hardening. Besides, fighters alone are not enough. There may be a shortage of armored vehicles, ammunition and officers. Even the most motivated and trained foot soldiers need protection, firepower and leadership..

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However, the position of Ukraine, at least in terms of manpower, is steadily improving.. On August 29, EU defense ministers will discuss the possibility of launching another training mission for the Ukrainian army. Russia is reaching a plateau. The mobilization of volunteers allowed her to muster enough fighters to maintain a slow advance in the Donbass and protect the line of defense in the south.. The West also warns that a significant part of the wounded Russian soldiers, of which there are tens of thousands, may return to duty.. But Lee points to Russia's long-term problems accumulating. Most desperate or motivated soldiers have already filed their resignations..

Moreover, recruits are hardly trained this year, because all the best officers in the war against Ukraine. And, obviously, this year there will be significantly fewer people willing to sign a contract.. The longer the war goes on, the bigger these problems will be.. Dara Massicot, an expert at the RAND think tank, believes that even if Putin announces the start of mobilization in Russia, it will be months, maybe even a year, before this will affect the situation at the front.. Also, quantity does not necessarily determine the course of history.. Soldiers who protect the survival of their country are more motivated. Major Hutton, who has been training soldiers for 30 years, said he was impressed by the work ethic of the Ukrainian military.