How Britain helped bring Ukraine's army up to scratch

In 2014 Ukraine was a country in turmoil.

Despite the Maidan Revolution, which had unseated a crooked president, there were Russian troops in Crimea and Moscow-backed separatists in the eastern Donbas region.

The country seemed weak, vulnerable and ripe for another strike from Moscow.

Many observers have asked how, just eight years later, Ukraine has been able to mount such fierce resistance to the latest act of Russian aggression.

It is a story of deep reflection and transition guided by advice from afar.

In 2016 Stepan Poltorak, the Ukrainian defence minister, had requested a group of advisers from America, Canada, Poland, Lithuania and the UK to help him reform his country's Ministry of Defence.

Britain sent General Sir Nick Parker, a man known to back himself, even if he “got told off afterwards”.

Ukraine’s armed forces had been completely hollowed out by the time of 2014’s Maidan Revolution as a result of the mismanagement of President Viktor Yanukovych.

The insurrection in the Donbas was only contained by Kyiv after “frantic scrambling” pulled forces together.

“It was extraordinary how volunteers just picked themselves up and managed to hold the line,” Gen Parker told the Telegraph.

“The vast majority were younger, well-meaning, committed people who just picked up a rifle and went.”

Over the next two years, there was an internal transformation of the Ukrainian armed forces, guided in part by Gen Parker and the other four members of "The Quint".

Although the armed forces improved, they were very much focused just on the Donbas. Other bigger, wider, systemic issues needed attention.

The first time he went into a meeting with senior Ukrainian military officials, Gen Parker said a group of young people - “thirty-somethings in civilian clothes” - gently contradicted some of the generals’ assumptions.

He was as amazed as he was impressed to see the “vibrant energy” of these members of the "Reform Group" - the legacy of the Maidan - being listened to by the military leaders.

“The country had recognised that it needed to both commit to and exploit the voice of the Ukrainian reformers,” he said.

“There was respect from the establishment because the halting of the insurrection was very much a volunteer effort.

“In the psyche of the country, there was this respect for the people who had held the line.”

Gen Parker describes how he realised the role of The Quint was therefore to negotiate military systems and processes that were embedded in the past, while trying to inculcate the emerging culture and identity that had been born in the civilian effort of the Maidan Revolution.

Ability to work with 'fragile infrastructure'

Two things struck him. First, the Ukrainians were prepared to fight. The second thing of note was the country’s “ability to make do and mend”.

“They have an ability to work even with very fragile infrastructure because they are so committed to what they're doing.

“These were just people who lived in Kyiv and had gone to the front line because they knew that's what their duty was. And then they'd come back and remained committed to the cause and wanted to help reform the country.

“There was a desire to demonstrate that they were reforming both externally and internally. That is one of the indicators of why Ukraine is a country that believes in itself enough to resist in the way that it has.”

Gen Parker describes how clear-eyed the country was about the threat from Russia, after the annexation of Crimea and support for the separatist regions of the Donbas in 2014.

There was a “passionate fear” expressed by Ukrainians for the future. “They just simply didn't trust their neighbour.”

Despite the work of The Quint (and Operation Orbital, the British military mission training Ukrainian troops), Kyiv’s determination to reform ahead of a likely future conflict was not always so well understood in London.

“The MoD was more worried about what the cost of my hotel was, or whether I'd booked an internal flight to go and see something,” Gen Parker says. “It was sometimes quite difficult to break out of the engine. I would have to use contacts in order to make sure the message got through. I found that pretty wearing.”

“Candidly, I'm not sure we were taking the threat as seriously as they did.”

As for the current war, although the world has been surprised at the incredible fighting spirit of the Ukrainians, Gen Parker hasn’t.

International objective missing

The resistance has been “vigorous” he said, but “what's missing at the moment is an international objective”.

“In a way, the understanding of how tough the Ukrainians are and how determined they are is the second-order issue. The first-order issue is how do we reestablish the global respect for the rules that we all need to abide by?”

“We shouldn't be looking to Nato or the UN to drive this because they're just not set up to do that.

“There are certain nations who are critical to this - the US in particular. There surely must be some way to get the great minds to come together and provide a framework for Ukraine to build back.

“I worry that we are going to accept Crimea and the Donbas have gone, that there’s now a constant battle line in Ukraine. It must not be like that.”

He applauds the decision by the Czech Republic to supply T-72 tanks and armoured vehicles. “Good for them,” he said. “The Poles, too, have been amazing.”

“There is a very clear message that international rules have been completely knocked out of the window. Can we not bring something together?”

The international community needs to weave economic, diplomatic, security, humanitarian and information lines of activity together, he said.

“Who’s getting their heads together to think about this?”

The core of Ukraine’s sense of itself as a nation that deserves to survive and thrive comes from the hard work of transformation the country has gone through since 2014, according to Gen Parker; the desire for reform and the willingness to listen to the young, to society and to outsiders.

“If that hadn't existed, Ukraine would have crumbled.”