Operation UNIFIER’s sapper training evolves to continue meeting the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s requirements

December 4, 2023 - Defence Stories

By: Major Christopher Daniel, Senior Public Affairs Officer, Joint Task Force-Ukraine

Operation UNIFIER’s basic sapper training delivered to Ukrainian sappers has continued to evolve during Rotation 16 of Operation UNIFIER. This ensures the training program remains relevant to the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s (AFU) identified requirements. This sapper training is being delivered by Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) combat engineers deployed in the southwest of Poland, in partnership with their Polish, Latvian, British, and Ukrainian counterparts.

“Based on the AFU’s feedback, Joint Task Force-Ukraine (JTF-U) reviewed and revised its instruction program to significantly increase the toughness and value of the training being provided to the Ukrainian students,” said Captain Deven Deguara, Engineer Training Element (ETE) Commander.

The most recent developments to the sapper training include incorporating basic soldier skills into the course. These include tactical movement, adopting fire positions, reacting to artillery, uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), and actions on direct enemy contact into every activity conducted during the training.

“We incorporated these training objectives to enhance the Ukrainian trainees’ survivability when they deploy to the front to defend their country’s sovereignty and independence from Russia’s unlawful and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” said Capt Deguara. 

Another significant development is the arrival of a Ukrainian Staff Sergeant with recent combat experience as a sapper, which further enhanced the ETE’s ability to deliver realistic training that prepares the Ukrainian trainees for what they will face on the front lines. 

“The ETE’s efforts to increase its linguists maximises contact time with our Ukrainian trainees by separating them into smaller groups. This provides the students more opportunities for participating in practical training activities,” said the Staff Sergeant.

Most importantly, background activities have been incorporated into the Basic Sapper course to build muscle memory on critically important skills. 

“The progress of the Ukrainian sappers is noticeable. The recent changes enable training to progressively become more challenging and better improves our trainees,” said the AFU Staff Sergeant.

“There is always room for improvement,” said Capt Deguara. “Our existing serials can be leveraged to prepare future Ukrainian instructors to deliver training in Ukraine. This can be accomplished by training the trainer before mentoring and teaching them on our sapper training course. Enhancing AFU’s abilities like this enables them to provide quality training.”

Beyond merely enhancing the ETE and the Canadian Armed Forces’ understanding of what is occurring on Ukraine’s front lines, sending knowledgeable Ukrainian personnel with recent combat experience to receive this instructor training also ensures future AFU students will continue receiving realistic and up-to-date training on what they need to defeat Russia in its illegal and unprovoked war against Ukraine.