More than 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers have swapped a country at war for a military camp in eastern France, where they’re receiving a crash course in combat. But with only a few months before the recruits head to the front lines, their French trainers are seeking to recreate the conditions in Ukraine as faithfully as possible.
“What’s striking on first contact is that they arrive in a country at peace, and there’s a stress that immediately disappears,” says Colonel Guillaume Vancina, one of the officers in charge of training the Ukrainian troops.
