A new photographic exhibition in Ukraine is highlighting a substantial but perhaps sometimes overlooked British military effort – the training of more than 67,000 Ukrainian personnel under the UK-led Operation Interflex.
The exhibition, Operation Interflex: Photo Stories From the International Training of Ukrainian Military Personnel Led by the UK, opened in Kyiv at the end of September, with photographs also being shown in Lviv.
Op Interflex began in June 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion forced the suspension of Operation Orbital, under which British personnel had already trained more than 22,000 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Ukraine since 2015.
The new operation brought Ukrainian personnel to Britain. Initially concentrating on basic soldiering skills for recruits with little or no previous military experience, the programme has progressively expanded to include leadership and instructor training, combat medicine and other specialist skills. It is now moving further towards specialist training in areas including medicine, engineering, logistics and aviation.
Although British-led, Interflex has been a genuinely multinational undertaking. Alongside the UK, personnel from Albania, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Kosovo, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania and Sweden have contributed to the programme.
The British commitment has also shown unusual political continuity. Launched under Boris Johnson's government in 2022, Operation Interflex continued through the premierships of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, was maintained and further developed under Sir Keir Starmer. Continuing aid for Ukraine, including the evolving Op Interflex, has been strongly reaffirmed under Andy Burnham.
The 16 photographs now on display in Kyiv record something which is easily lost among the larger political and strategic arguments surrounding the war: thousands of British and allied servicemen and women have spent four years passing on their skills to Ukrainian soldiers who would shortly afterwards return home to put them into practice.
It is also becoming increasingly clear how this cooperation has not been a one-way street, with UK and other allied forces increasingly benefiting from Ukrainian experience and technology.
Further reading: How 14 Countries Have Trained 67,000+ Ukrainian Soldiers for Combat. Operation Interflex in Photos