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'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN'
Ukraine colonel hails the Queen & shows off Brit ‘tank-killer’ missiles to fend off Putin’s armoured hordes
A UKRAINIAN colonel roared “God Save The Queen” on Thursday as his troops showed off the British weapon hailed as a game changer if war with Russia erupts.
The UK has shipped 2,000 NLAW anti-tank missiles to the eastern European nation besieged by more than 200,000 troops loyal to Vladimir Putin
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And brave defenders saluted British backing as they told how the shoulder-launched rocket will play a vital role in battle.
Around 100 British trainers are in Ukraine honing the skills of infantrymen who will launch salvos of the “fire and forget” guided missile against advancing Russian armour.
NLAWS were put through their paces today at the Ukrainian Army’s Desna Training Ground, just 50 miles from the border with Belarus where Russia has launched huge exercises.
Lieutenant Colonel Ihor Bezogluk, of Ukraine’s 72 Brigade told The Sun: “God save the Queen and thank you so much to Britain for giving us the NLAWS.
“We are so pleased with all the support from around the world - especially Britain. This has boosted morale and it will make the Russians think.
“Anything that will help us defend our country is very well received and these missiles have changed the war for us.
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“It means we can fight the Russians and it does not matter how many of them there are - now that we have a way of stopping their armour.”
Infantry troops toted the three-foot-long launcher - described as “the ultimate tank killer” - in mocked-up urban settings to prepare for a bloody guerrilla war.
NLAWS - or Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon - weigh just 28lb but can stop any tank dead in its tracks.
Ukrainian troops have been trained in just an hour to simply track targets through the weapon’s sight for a few seconds before firing the missile, which automatically locks on.
A small charge propels the rocket out of its launch tube before its afterburners ignite to power its armour piercing warhead to a tank or enemy vehicle.
The missiles can be fired for more than half a mile - or as little as 20 metres from inside buildings - making them ideal for the house-to-house guerrilla war planned by Ukraine.
NLAWS, jointly designed and built by British and Swedish weapons boffins, have been said to turn “the hunter into the hunted” in tank battles.
'WE ARE SAVING THEM FOR THE RUSSIANS'
Ukrainian troops saved precious stocks of the vital missiles by training with lasers which marked tank targets on the mock battlefield.
British defence chiefs look certain to replenish supplies if war breaks out.
Colonel Bezogluk - whose brigade’s Emblem is a Death’s Head Skull emblazoned with the words “Ukraine or Death” - added: “We are training in urban and trench warfare.
“The missiles mean we will be able to defend a city and fight the enemy.
“These soldiers are 100 per cent confident they can win and they will fight until the last breath they have.”
The colonel said his NLAW force was now battle ready but would not be test firing the new weapon again until war breaks out.
He smiled: "We are saving them for the Russians if they come."
Infantrymen trained hard in trenches and abandoned buildings on the vast military training ground south of the Belarus border, once the second biggest in the old Soviet Union.
Around 80,000 Russian and Belarusian fighters loyal to Vladimir Putin began 10 days of troop, tank, artillery and air assault war games just a few miles north across the border.
Another 140,000 Russian soldiers, sailors and airmen now throng Ukraine’s borders to the south and east with 30,000 pro-Russian separatists in the captured Donbas enclave.
'GOD SAVE THE QUEEN'
The phrase “God Save The Queen” has been trending on Ukrainian social media sites for weeks as locals saluted the UK’s rock solid backing and military support.
Brits are now so popular in capital Kiev that they are offered free food and drinks in some bars and restaurants by their grateful hosts.
Ukrainian NLAW trainer, Staff Sergeant Roman Yaramenko, 28, of 72 Brigade said: “Technically they are brilliant missiles as before we only had rocket propelled grenades.
“These weapons are absolutely a game changer for us because it’s like they have a brain.
“You can fire and forget them and you can even hit hidden tanks, firing from buildings or trenches - it means we are now ready to defend Ukraine and protect her.
“We are strong inside and ready to fight.”
Russian and Ukrainian forces began war game exercises within striking distance of each other today - stoking new fears that a military blunder will spark war.
Thousands of Russian and allied forces began “Operation Allied Resolve 2022” - the biggest deployment to Belarus since the Cold War - feared to be a cloak for a Ukraine attack.
Ukraine has ordered a mirror image of the operation to counter the threat just a few miles south on its own territory.
Massive exercises are also planned by Ukraine in the south close to the border with Russian annexed Crimea - which has been flooded with thousands more troops.
Soaring tension cranked higher as pro-Putin forces occupying Donbas in the east warned that their enemy’s tanks were on the move.
Donbas separatists sparked jitters in Donetsk by claiming they had spotted threatening Ukrainian tanks moving around 10 miles from their positions.
These soldiers are 100 per cent confident they can win and they will fight until the last breath they have
Lieutenant Colonel Ihor Bezogluk, of Ukraine’s 72 Brigade
But Ukraine has insisted it has followed shaky ceasefire rules along the 250-miles of trenches ringing Donetsk since pro-Russian forces staged a land grab in 2014.
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UK Defence analyst Paul Beaver told The Sun: “Intensive military activity staged by enemy troops this close together increases the margin for error significantly.
“We are entering a very dangerous phase in which a stray bullet or missiles or a mechanical failure could be the trigger for all-out war.”
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