PRIDE IN THE YOUNG GUNS
By Chris Hughes DEFENCE AND SECURITY EDITOR in KYIV, UKRAINE
Pictures
UKRAINIAN youngsters shoulder wooden rifles as the efforts to enlist civilian fighters step up.
Yaroslav Pikaliyk, ten, was put through his paces yesterday as his war widow mum Tetiana, 35, looked on.
She said: “If he fights for Ukraine one day, I’ll be very proud of him.”
Young Yaroslav wielded his fake assault rifle as adult volunteers – both men and women – trained to join 127 Battalion of Kyiv’s Territorial Defence Force in a snow-covered wood.
Although recruits must be 18 to join properly, Yaroslav had no doubt he was in the place he wanted to be.
Threat
Mum Tetiana, a civil servant from Kyiv, said: “Yaroslav wanted to be here for training because his dad died five years ago. He is the son of a man who gave his life for Ukraine. It is good for him to have adult male influence and be here today.”
Father Oleg, 38, a volunteer driver for the Ukrainian army, suffered a heart attack during brutal fighting in 2017.
Children, women and couples attended the training camp outside the capital as the invasion threat from Russia intensified.
Twins Taras and Bohdan, four, played with wooden rifles as grown-ups trained for war just feet away. Mum Iryna, 35, said: “They love everything to do with the military.”
Yana Komush, 20, took up a fighting position with an AK-47 while wearing leather trousers.
She said: “I dress for comfort but I take this very seriously.”
Yesterday Russia sent another 10,000 troops to annexed Crimea. Ukraine now has 126,000 Russians massed on its eastern flank and 80,000 Russian and Belarusian troops to the north.