British infantry trains for urban warfare in Ukraine-style conflict

Soldiers from the British Army’s largest infantry regiment are preparing for potential conflict with Russia at the UK’s only facility designed to replicate a Ukrainian-style urban battlefield, Daily Mail reports.

At Copehill Down, a Ministry of Defence site on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, troops from The Rifles have been practising close-quarters combat in a simulated bombed town. The exercises form part of their preparation ahead of deployment to a NATO training area in Germany, where they will spend a month readying for potential operations in Eastern Europe.

The latest episode of Channel 5’s Platoon 24/7: Preparing for War offers a behind-the-scenes look at the regiment’s training. Soldiers were tasked with defeating enemy forces hidden across three buildings within the facility, which was originally built in 1987 to resemble a German village in Bavaria and later expanded with tunnels, alleyways, compounds, and high-level walkways. A £190,000 “shoot house” was added in 2015, alongside a £325,000 upgrade to improve the realism of the training environment.

Captain Mike Lindgren, commanding officer of D Company, 5th Battalion, The Rifles, told the documentary: “A war with Russia would be soldiers versus soldiers. They’ve got the same kind of equipment that we have, similar training with different methods. That fight would end up potentially in places that look a little bit like this.”

Describing the challenges of urban warfare, Captain Lindgren said: “There’s probably no greater challenge than urban environments in war because they are supremely confusing and communications don’t work too well. The enemy isn’t directly in front of you; they could be above you, to the left of you, or below you in sewer systems. We’re looking for Riflemen to demonstrate that will to fight, to go into a building in the dark where you know there are people who aren’t your friends and eliminate them at really close range.”

He added: “It’s in your face, it’s close and personal. For the young soldiers, it will be very intense.”

Recruits have undergone six months of rigorous training, including the Sword Lane exercise, designed to test physical and mental endurance while teaching controlled aggression under extreme exhaustion and minimal sleep.

Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to deploy British forces to Ukraine post-conflict, placing troops in military hubs to train Ukrainian forces and protect weapons stockpiles as a deterrent against future Russian aggression.

By Vafa Guliyeva