• France trained thousands of Ukrainians for a brigade that would soon go to war with Russia.
• The brigade will include French tanks, artillery and missile systems.
• “They can fight now, they can maneuver,” said a French colonel.

A Ukrainian brigade of thousands of soldiers trained in France and armed with French-supplied tanks, artillery and heavy weapons is about to enter. fight against Russia.

Thousands of soldiers have been training in eastern and southern France for more than two months. Associated Press.

A French military task force called Champagne conducted the training. The report stated that more than 2,000 soldiers went through the final stages of training before returning to Ukraine.

The brigade, named “Mother of Kiev” in memory of a former Kiev princess who became queen of France, will eventually have 4,500 members.

The French military said the facility will also house 18 AMX 10 light tanks, 18 truck-mounted Caesar artillery pieces, 128 armored troop carriers, as well as anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems.

The French military said most soldiers received only a few weeks of basic training before leaving for France, according to the AP.

A French colonel told the press: “They have improved a lot. Now they can fight, they can maneuver. They can use different specialists and use different equipment that they would have on the battlefield.”

According to French officials, the Ukrainian army is also training other units for the brigade in Ukraine.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, groups Ukrainian soldiers were trained by Western soldiers In locations outside Ukraine.

Partly as a result, Ukrainian forces are thought to be much better trained than Russia’s, although Russia has military advantages in other areas.

Western intelligence has pointed out that Russian troops receive almost no training before being sent to the front, and Russia’s winning strategy appears to be based on trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s much smaller army with large numbers of troops and equipment.

The new Ukrainian brigade will enter the war at a critical time.

Russia is slowly advancing in eastern Ukraine as Ukraine demands more support from its allies. Ukrainian officials also said some 11,000 North Korean troops were in the region to help push back Russian forces from occupied Kursk.

Ukraine is also anxiously awaiting the arrival of US President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House in January and has repeatedly criticized the level of support the US has sent to Ukraine.

Under Trump, European aid to Ukraine, such as France training one of its brigades, could become even more critical to Ukraine’s ability to wage war.