Western forces are role-playing as Russia in training, attacking Ukrainian troops with tanks, ATVs, and motorcycles

Western soldiers are driving tanks and armored vehicles at Ukrainian troops at a camp in Poland.Norwegian Armed ForcesWestern troops are simulating Russian attacks against Ukrainian forces training on NATO soil.The mock Russian force tries to fight better than Russia itself. "Train hard, fight easy" is the point.Large armored assaults are now rare in Ukraine, but mechanized attacks remain a threat.Western forces are driving tanks, armored vehicles, and motorcycles toward Ukrainian soldiers in training to ready them for Russian mechanized and irregular infantry attacks.Soldiers from multiple Western nations are helping to train Ukrainian soldiers as part of a Norway-led international effort called Operation Legio at a purpose-built site in eastern Poland. The aim is to prepare them for the fight against Russia's invasion.Their efforts include a designated opposition force designed to "resemble how the enemy fights on the front line," Maj. John, the S3 Operations Officer in charge of synchronizing the overall training operation, told Business Insider. He asked to only be identified by his first name for security reasons.The opposition force uses vehicles like those that Russia uses. Vehicles supplied by Poland include Polish versions of the Soviet-era T-72 main battle tank, BMP-1 Soviet-era infantry fighting vehicle, and other armored vehicles.It also use drones, motorcycles, and ATVs "because the Russians are using that as well," John said. "So we make sure that they are exposed to those same scenarios that they will meet when they go back."Brigadier Atle Molde, the commander of Task Force Legio, told Business Insider that the Ukrainians instruct the opposition force on how to behave, so they act as Russia does on the battlefield.The aim is always to have "proper realism," he said. Having a designated opposition force to act like Russia means that "they can play that role as close to the real enemy as possible," and that increases the quality of the training.Ukrainian troops aren't practicing mechanized warfare as part of their training because large-scale Ukrainian mechanized assaults are no longer a major feature of the war. But it's important that they know how to respond to them because "we still see that Russians use mechanized vehicles," John said.Instead, Russian forces use "small mechanized units trying to utilize breakthrough and so on," he said. "So that is just a combat effect from the Russian side that they try to expose the trainees to."Tanks have proven so vulnerable in the war that both sides have stopped doing large, mechanized attacks.YAN DOBRONOSOV/AFP via Getty ImagesMolde said that Russian vehicle formations are "still a factor they have to be able to cope with because it happens," even though large-scale mechanized warfare has largely disappeared from a fight dominated by relatively static front lines.Tanks and armored vehicles played a bigger role earlier in the war, but have proved particularly vulnerable to mine and drone threats. The war has become a grinding, attritional fight, with an expanding front-line kill zone that makes agile maneuver warfare difficult. Tanks and heavy armor are built for the kind of breakthroughs that are increasingly uncommon.Russia has still conducted mechanized attacks, including smaller, localized assaults with fewer vehicles, trying to push forward and gain ground. So Ukrainian soldiers still need to know how best to face them.Russian soldiers are using motorcycles, quad bikes, and ATVs in Ukraine for quick attacks and even large-scale assaults that attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian positions. Ukraine is also using them to quickly storm Russian positions. Riders on these vehicles have less protection and are more vulnerable to drone attacks than troops in an armored vehicle, but they're also able to move quickly, making them harder to spot and target.Footage shared by Russia's defense ministry of a soldier training on a motocross bike.Telegram/Ministry of Defense of RussiaMolde said the aim is for the opposition force to perform better with these vehicles than Russia has, giving the Ukrainians a tougher opponent in training."It's an old military principle thing. Train hard, fight easy."Asked by Business Insider whether the force typically acts more skillfully than the Russian forces Ukrainians encounter, he responded, "Yeah. Well, we all know about the training standard of many Russian forces. Maybe I should say I hope so."John said the aim is to make the terrain look like Ukraine, flat and exposed with scattered tree lines, and train troops with the weaponry Ukrainian soldiers are actually using. The trenches at the purpose-built site in Poland, Camp Jomsborg, are dug by the Ukrainians, or built by allied troops according to Ukrainian instructions, and they're regularly updated to mirror those on the actual battlefield.The mock Russian force also updates its equipment and tactics to reflect changes on the battlefield, while laser simulation systems and so

Read More