World News: Meet the Ukrainian couples training for war – Gulf Digital News

World News: Meet the Ukrainian couples training for war – Gulf Digital News

A generation of Ukrainians who knew of war only from history books and the storeys of their grandparents has been forced to prepare to fight, and some are choosing to do it with the partners they were building their lives with only weeks ago.

In a training centre in the southern city of Odessa, young urban professionals who might normally be choosing where to meet friends for a coffee learn about handling weapons and applying emergency first aid to battlefield wounds.

"Every person should know how to fight, how to make medicine, aid for your relatives or other people," said 26-year-old graphic designer Olga Moroz, training in civil defence alongside her boyfriend, 32-year-old sales manager Maxim Yavtushenko.

The couple, who had been planning their wedding in the summer, were at the dimly lit facility that provides basic training for 80 to 150 people a day, all seeking to have some kind of preparation for the day that Russian troops pressing closer to the city finally arrive.

Odessa, a picturesque Black Sea port that handles more than half of Ukraine's imports and exports, is seen as a major strategic and symbolic target for Russian forces. Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24 in what