King Charles passed on a heartfelt message to a Ukrainian soldier as he visited troops being trained for the war against Russia by UK forces.
Charles watched as they were put through their paces learning trench warfare – famously used by First World War troops – which has become a factor of the conflict in Ukraine.
At an undisclosed location in Wiltshire, the King looked on intently as the men – many civilians who have no experience of the military – stormed a trench a few hundred metres away as the mock gun battle raged.
He told one of their senior officers when he first arrived: “You are amazing, I don’t know how you do it."
And he later passed on the message: "I am full of admiration."
The recruits were part of a group of 200 men about to begin week four of their training under the command of Major Tony Harris, from New Zealand’s armed forces, who talked the King through the operation.
Speaking afterwards about his chat with Charles, he said: "We were talking about the fact they've returned to trench warfare and the contrast with World War One and how we're back in trenches in the 21st century.
"Because of the really stout defence the Ukrainians have put in – they’ve been able to hold Russian forces to pretty much a stalemate in large parts of the theatre – the large part of holding the line is digging in and preparing for the worst.
"We've always dug fortification as defensive measures. Artillery fire hasn't changed, with shells falling from the sky you still need something to protect you and it just makes sense that this is where we’ve got to in this war."
As the first anniversary of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine approaches, hundreds of men are undergoing the five weeks of basic training to prepare them for combat or enhance the skills of others who have already been fighting on the front line.
It comes as Russian leader Vladimir Putin of a World War 3 "global conflict" as he issued a nuclear threat during a major speech today.
The Russian President has threatened to take the war cross-border and appeared to justify the use of nuclear weapons in the State of the Nation speech ahead of the one-year anniversary of his war in Ukraine.
In the very rambling speech, he took nearly half an hour before a specific threat was made.
Putin railed against the West in his long-delayed state-of-the-nation address - and said it was seeking to turn the war into a "global conflict".
He also frequently justified his invasion of his neighbour by accusing Western countries of threatening Russia: “It’s they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it."
