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Since 2015, more than 13,300 Ukrainian troops have completed training provided by the mission, with every new rotation bringing 200 troops.
There are four training centers across Ukraine where Canadian instructors assist with security force training. One of them is in Desna, in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region.
UNIFIER was launched in 2015, not long after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support of a rebellion in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Since then, cooperation between Ukraine and Canada has expanded rapidly.
That said, on the ground, you’ll see few Canadian uniforms. Most of the work is instead done behind the scenes, out of the spotlight, and away from the headlines. The Canadian Armed Forces and other allies are being incorporated into the broader Ukrainian armed forces planning and training systems.
Among other things, Ukrainians are trained in the use of Canadian sniper rifles by Canadian snipers, many of whom have extensive combat experience in Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Corporal Andrew Rudnyk of the Canadian Armed Forces is a Ukrainian born linguist who’s been working with the snipers for several weeks. He wanted to be deployed to Ukraine out of a sense of obligation to his homeland and people.
“This is my home country, there’s so much potential here,” he says.
He displayed a 338 caliber lapua magnum PGW defense systems weapon, also known as the Timberwolf model. The Canadian military incorporated the PGW defense systems weapon into their forces in 2005 — and have been using it in combat since. In Ukraine, however, this model is used for training purposes.
“We are using it to showcase the kind of capabilities – like i said before – we are shooting it beside the candidates, and sometimes we allow the instructors and the candidates themselves to fire the weapon to familiarize themselves with the caliber,” Corporal Andrew Rudnyk of Canadian Armed Forces said.
During the training, Ukrainian soldiers use the Zbroyar Z10, a semi-automatic rifle featuring a 308 caliber. The Ukrainian made rifle was adopted into the country’s arsenal back in 2018.
One of the Canadian snipers explains that the 338 caliber lapua magnum has different capabilities compared to the Z10 but the principles of good marksmanship are shared across every weapon.
“During the course, there has been a 900-meter shot. That’s as far as they progressed but there might be longer shots. The problem is the capability of the weapon that they are using. It is a training weapon,” Rudnyk said.
The sniper school is strengthening the foundation of Ukraine’s Security Forces, a representative of the Canadian Armed Forces said.
