At a shooting gallery in Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine, six women dressed in khaki green they learn to use a Kalashnikov assault rifle and train for urban combat.

Crouched behind a partition, one of them points to a distant target e then run to another location.

It is the third session for these women the center called “The sixth sense”where a team of specialists has just launched a program specially designed to introduce them to the use of weapons and tactics of urban combat.

The fighting is approaching the city every day, and Natalia Basova, 47, didn’t hesitate to sign up with her 29-year-old daughter, Ulyana Kiyashko. For her, the front of her is too close. “I knew how to use weapons before the war. I went to fire posts, I was very interested“assures AFP.

To learn

“But from now on, everyone has to know how to do it”, she adds, to the deafening sound of a shot just behind her.

Her husband and son, as well as her son-in-law, are currently at the forefront. As her men fight, she and her daughter decide learn as much as possible about urban combat.

“Our instructor teaches us how to properly aim and use a weapon,” he explains. “We already knew how to shoot, but we didn’t know how to do it right, without risking hurting someone,” he says.

Until then, the training center it housed only military personnel or territory defense fighters. But more and more women are showing up in Zaporizhia to prepare for a possible entry of Russian forces into the city.

According to martial law, training It is free for all city dwellers.

The creator of the center, Sergei Ieline, 47, explains that during the basic training students learn to stand correctly, to aim a gun, to control the trigger, to breathe and shoot.

In the case of women, the program lasts 15 hours, but, precisely, the basic can be learned in just five or six hours.

specialists

“We have put together some tactical drills for civilians because we all know that if the enemy enters the city there will be street fighting,” he continues. “And it usually happens in difficult places like dilapidated houses, basements or inside shops,” he adds.

Instructors work with military and civilians in three different training camps. In one they are taught the basic use of weapons, in another a more specialized course is givenand in the third there is tactical training for the use of Kalashnikov assault rifles, in principle for special forces.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, around 4,000 people received training at the center.

“We need to know how to do it, for ourselves and for our families. We are at the forefront,” says another student, Iana Piltek, 33.

He says he’s not afraid to fight and swears he won’t hesitate to go out and defend his hometown. “We train to win in an urban battle. If that happens, we won’t let the city fall. “ensures.

AFP agency

PB