A few kilometers from the border with Belarus, Ukrainian forces are training for the expected brutal spring, writes CNN.

Old T-72 tanks fire into the fog as ground troops train to storm abandoned buildings. Part of the training takes place in the city of Pripyat, an ominous and quiet town that remained after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

While the troops get to work, Lieutenant General Serhiy Naev receives a dozen vans armed with heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. This initiative is crowdfunded to help Ukraine repel Iranian-made Shahed drones that have both caused significant damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

But Nayev believes that the next stage of this war will be about tanks. And these are not his old T-72s, but more modern machines, such as Leopard 2 and Challenger tanks.

Ukrainian officials say they need several hundred main battle tanks (MBTs) – not only to defend their current positions, but also to fight the enemy in the coming months.

“Of course, we need a large number of Western tanks. They are much better than the Soviet models and can help us move forward,” said Naev.

“We are creating new military units. And our further actions will depend on their combat readiness. That is why the help of the West is extremely important,” he says. (complete on CNN)

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