Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been seen training with wooden weapons as the country faces the prospect of a Russian invasion.
Volunteers are being trained in freezing cold temperatures by the country’s Territorial Defence Force – the reserve branch of Ukraine’s military that was only established last year.
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With elite military equipment in short supply, new recruits and civilians are being forced to learn the basics of warfare using makeshift weapons.
Volunteers are being taught to defend themselves using wooden replica weapons at training sessions run by the voluntary force.
“People in the big cities got used to the fact that the conflict was far away from them,” instructor Sergiy Vyshnevsky, 40, told AFP.
“Now they realise that the war might come to them.”
Thousands of people have signed up for self-defence courses, both in person and online as the country braces itself for a possible invasion.
Ukraine’s military estimates that 130,000 Russian troops have gathered on the country’s border.
Undeterred by the might of the Russian military, regular Ukrainian civilians are signing up in large numbers to defend the capital Kyiv and other major cities.
