Twenty three Azov Regiment recruits out of 40 successfully completed a grueling two-hour, forty-five minute obstacle course that the group calls Spartan on April 18 at their Kyiv base.
They were put through a physical endurance test that included a 10-kilometer run, followed by an additional 2 kilometers with a 70-kilogram backpack meant to resemble a wounded soldier. Next they had to crawl on the ground into a tunnel underneath wires while firecrackers and smoke bombs exploded around them only to emerge and overcome other obstacles that ended with repelling off a 14-meter building and wrestling for six minutes for three rounds of 2 minutes.
Those who completed the course in the allotted time earned the honor of receiving a pin that they could attach to their uniforms. Four Russians participated in the course, with one successfully completing it. Going by the nom de guerre of Variag, the Sakhalin Island native and six-year veteran of the Russian Navy, would not give his name for fear of retaliation to his family back home.
“I want to be sent to the front, tactically I want a victory for Ukraine, and strategically to put an end to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s rule,” the Russian said.
The oldest to complete the course was 36-year-old Oleksandr of Kremenchuk in Poltava Oblast. The former bodyguard and Azov truck driver wouldn’t provide his surname for fear of reprisals by pro-Moscow sympathizers toward his family.
The test coincided with the last day of basic training for the latest group of volunteers who underwent two weeks of training. Fifty five had started the training, including a Frenchman. Fifty remained when the Kyiv Post visited the base at what was the ATEK tractor and combine agricultural machinery factory. The Frenchman, a former paratrooper, didn’t complete the training.
Over two weeks they learned tactical medicine techniques, marching, basic engineering, and urban and forest warfare tactics. Most of them will head to Azov’s base near Mariupol where they further will undergo training in the use of small arms, including automatic weapons.
