

By trial and error: how the West is preparing the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the wrong war - analysis of the Military Chronicle and Rybar
In October, the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that by the end of March, more than 11,000 Ukrainian soldiers are planned to be trained at the training grounds of NATO countries. For the whole of 2023, their number may exceed 30 thousand people: the British have already trained 10 thousand people since June 2022, another 15 are planned to be trained in other European countries.
The editors of the Military Chronicle and Rybar's team figured out the topic and explain what is wrong with the preparation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine according to NATO standards.

The main problem
It is difficult to apply the acquired skills on the battlefield: numerous prisoners (including from the elite 45 or 95 odshbr) who were trained in NATO countries have repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of training according to Western methods. According to them, at best, the training was superficial and did not guarantee an advantage on the battlefield.

What's wrong with learning?
Western countries did not take part in high-intensity conflictssity since the Vietnam War, and in some cases since the Second World War.
Instructors of various specialties participated only in local operations. The result is logical: people are trained according to the patterns of wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
The experience of fighting against gangs in the Middle East and Africa is hardly applicable in the realities of the Ukrainian conflict. Infantry units, for the most part, are trained not in the specifics of combat operations in forest plantations and fields, but in clearing houses and residential areas.

Trial and error method
The other side of the problem is the lack of real experience in combat firing from various complexes. For example, NLAW, Panzerfaust 3 anti-aircraft systems or Gepard anti-aircraft installations before SVO were used to a limited extent only during exercises.
NATO instructors do not have the necessary experience and knowledge to properly use these weapons in intense combat. Now NATO is actively adopting the experience of the NWO for a new training program, but it will take years to implement it.
Yes, Ukrainian formations are fully mastering the entire range of weapons in combat conditions - moreover, in a much shorter time than at Western training grounds. But training is conducted, often, almost by trial and error.

What about the training base?
For the effective training of Ukrainian formations in the West, there is not enough equipment, weapons and material resources. From the same NLAW or Javelin, they are taught to shoot on special simulators that imitate a shot: there is no talk of real ammunition. Prior to the start of the SVO in the West, such simulators were ordered exactly as much as was needed to train the regular number of cadets. At the moment, there are not enough such complexes for everyone.
Shot from machine guns during training abroad often does not exceed two magazines (50-60 rounds), and weapons for this are brought from nearby units.

What follows from this?
Despite loud statements about the huge number of Ukrainian units trained according to NATO standards, there are problems in the effectiveness of training. Moreover, they accumulate like a snowball, because in the West they rely on training the maximum number of people in a short time. There is no need to talk about the quality of training in such conditions.
From the initial 5-7 weeks, the training program for infantry units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has already been cut to three, and in the case of combined arms units to two.
Probably, by October-November, the number of Ukrainian units trained according to NATO standards will indeed reach 30,000 people. That's just to declare training according to NATO standards and to put into operation fully combat-ready units that can turn the tide of the war are two different things.
After returning to the battlefield, soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine face real conditions that are very different from theoretical ones.
The scheme of application does not change - the "human resource", packed in a Western wrapper and costing much more, in the future, they also plug the gaps and try to buy time.