Ukrainian Peacekeepers Prepare for Mission in Iraq
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has started to form the Fifth Detached Mechanized Brigade to be deployed in Iraq as part of the multinational peacekeeping force. As of this writing, the Ukrainian peacekeeping force numbers 1,647 servicemen, Interfax-Ukraine quotes the Defense Ministry press service as saying. In the final count, its strength will not exceed 1,800 peacekeepers. The Ukrainian contingent will be subordinated to the General Headquarters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and will operate under the aegis of the Unified Command in pursuance of the UN Security Council resolution. It includes the brigade command, logistics units, and three battalions. All officers have higher specialized military educations, and all command staff officers have academic degrees. The peacekeeping force is formed on an all-volunteer basis. It includes no women or conscripts. Nearly a quarter of all servicemen have participated in hostilities or peacekeeping missions under the aegis of various international organizations and were on the Chornobyl cleanup team. The brigade is armed with 2,161 firearms, sixty BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, eleven BRDM-2 reconnaissance vehicles, six chemical reconnaissance vehicles, and 217 motor vehicles.
The deployment and logistical support of the Ukrainian peacekeeping force in Iraq will be financed by the US government. Aside from their monthly allowance in US dollars for discharging their military duty beyond Ukrainian territory ($960- 1200 for officers, $890-920 for ensigns, $600-650 for sergeants and privates), the Ukrainian servicemen will also receive their salaries and long service bonuses paid in Ukraine.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, the Ukrainian peacekeeping force is expected to begin its mission in its zone of responsibility on September 1. The situation in Wasit Province, where Ukrainian peacekeepers will be deployed, is characterized as relatively stable. Since the war ended, no armed attacks on the coalition forces have been reported in this province.
If a Ukrainian peacekeeper is killed in Iraq, his family will receive a $107,000 insurance benefit, Brigade Commander Serhiy Bezlushchenko told a news conference at the Velykopolovetsky training ground in Kyiv oblast, where the brigade is preparing for its peacekeeping mission in Iraq. According to him, in case of a crippling accident Ukrainian peacekeepers will receive between $35,000 and 65,000 depending on the severity of the disability.
The Day’s correspondent had an opportunity to see the way the 5th Detached Mechanized Brigade was training at the Velyky Polovetsk Proving Ground, Kyiv oblast.
The Ukrainian military began training sometime in early June. The proving ground people did their best to create conditions as close as possible to those in which the Ukrainians will carry out their mission in Iraq. Observation post duty, APC patrolling, roadblock checks, guarding important installations, rendering first aid — this is only a partial list of what the Ukrainian servicemen are supposed to be able to do. The demonstrated ability of the Ukrainian peacekeepers to overpower terrorists in a matter of minutes looked so realistic that, but for a typical Ukrainian grassy landscape of the proving ground, one could really imagine he was in the area of real-life hostilities.
The Ukrainian contingent, now reportedly 1,647-men strong, may in due course have its strength increased to 1,800 men. The peacekeepers were exclusively selected on a voluntary basis, one of the incentives being handsome pay that far exceeds compensation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. About one-fourth of the brigade’s servicemen have already been involved in peacekeeping missions under the auspices of various international organizations and taken part in the Chernobyl cleanup.
The military themselves were reluctant to answer questions about their pay, saying that money was no object. Captain Oleksiy Batsak is firmly convinced that he wants above all to “test himself.” But the journalists do not believe it. The money just “meets his standards,” no less and more. Although he will have to perform a peacekeeping mission abroad for the first time, Oleksiy is sure “everything will be OK.” And no wonder: his three-year-old son Andriy and wife Zhanna will be waiting for him at home. Incidentally, she did not oppose at all her husband’s decision to go to Iraq. “She reacted normally, with understanding, because she’s in the army herself,” the officer noted.
It is quite possible (and let us hope) that the Ukrainian peacekeepers will not have to do display in practice the skills they acquired in exercises. The military say the situation in Iraq’s Wasit province, where our brigade will be stationed, is rather quiet — at least as quiet as possible in a postwar country. Shiites make up the overwhelming majority (72%) of the population in the Ukrainian sector. There being no love lost between them and Sunni- led Iraq, most of them gravitate toward the neighboring Iran. US experts previously feared that the Shiites might rise up to break away from Baghdad’s rule and accept that of Teheran. Nevertheless, the Shiites are today considered far more quiet than the Sunnis. (It is in the Sunni provinces that the allied troops more often come under attack.) Lt. Col. Oleksandr Krasnook, deputy commander of the 5th Detached Mechanized Brigade, who came back from Iraq very recently, said “not a single shot has been fired at the US Marines battalion in Wasit over the past three months.”
It is the unit just mentioned that is to be relieved by Ukrainian peacekeepers. The Ukrainians will be stationed at what once was airfield of an Iraqi army division in the provincial center of Al-Qut. Lt. Col. Krasnook says the airfield was in fact undamaged during the hostilities, but after the war local looters managed to “do their job” there. According to Lt.- Col. Krasnook, our peacekeepers will first stay in tents for some time. They will later move to renovated barracks. Food is to be furnished by the Americans. Thus our soldiers are supposed to have quite good accommodation facilities. However, the peacekeepers have also had some restrictions placed on them: they will have to completely abstain from alcoholic beverages. The reason is not only strict regulations of the peacekeeping forces but also Middle Eastern sultry subtropical climate. Even in the shade, temperature in the Iraqi latitudes can jump as high as 50 degrees Celsius.
On the whole, the Ukrainian command hopes there will be no extraordinary situations that will have to be handled by the multinational force, and the weapons carried from Ukraine to Iraq will only be used in exercises. “Our objective is to forestall all kinds of unpredictable incidents and do our best to maintain a stable situation in Wasit province,” Brigade Commander Serhiy Bezlushchenko emphasized.
