Britain purchased Zastava M70 assault rifles for Ukrainian soldiers training

The first group of Ukrainian soldiers recently arrived in the UK to participate in a new large Britain-led military program.

Within the framework of this program, up to 10,000 Ukrainians will be trained in the coming months.

The program is a part of Britain’s unchanging commitment to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.

“Using the world-class expertise of the British Army we will help Ukraine to rebuild its forces and scale-up its resistance as they defend their country’s sovereignty and their right to choose their own future,” Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said.

Around 1,050 UK service personnel are deploying to run the programme, which will take place at MOD sites across the North West, South West and South East of the UK.

The UK has also gifted uniforms and equipment to support Ukrainian soldiers in their training and deployment back to Ukraine. Each soldier will be issued with:

• Personal protective equipment including helmets, body armour, eye protectors, ear protectors, pelvic protection, and individual first aid kits;
• Field uniforms and boots;
• Cold and wet weather clothing;
• Additional equipment required for field conditions including ponchos, sleeping bags, and entrenching tools.

The training will give volunteer recruits with little to no military experience the skills to be effective in frontline combat.

Based on the UK’s basic soldier training, the course covers weapons handling, battlefield first aid, fieldcraft, patrol tactics and the Law of Armed Conflict.

Zastava M70

The Government has rapidly procured AK variant assault rifles for the training programme, meaning Ukrainian soldiers can train on the weapons they will be using on the front line.

In the published photos from the exercises in Britain, it can be seen that the Ukrainian military is training with the Yugoslav Zastava M70 assault rifles. The British government probably purchased rifles from the Croatian Republic that were part of Yugoslavia.

This Yugoslav assault rifle is designed for firing 7.62×39mm rounds . Developed by Zastava Arms during the 1960s, it is an unlicensed analogue of the Soviet AK-47.

It became a standard infantry weapon in the Yugoslav People’s Army in 1970, supplementing and later replacing the Zastava M59/66.