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Practicing for war - with wooden weapons.
What sounds like a game to some is deadly serious in Ukraine.
A civilian defense unit trains volunteers on weapons and basic tactics at an old military training ground just outside the capital Kiev.
Andriy Rikun, Instructor
"Through the training, people also learn how to evacuate (in emergency situations), how to provide first aid and how to protect their own families."
For months, civilian Ukrainians have been training in Kiev for emergencies, and there were exercises at many other locations across the country at the weekend.
Some of the newly trained trainees then become part of the so-called Territorial Defense.
If there is an attack, they can be assigned to the military.
There are said to be up to 130,000 civilian reservists.
Sergei Fomenih, volunteer
“The main objective is to educate the people of the country not to panic if war is declared, so that everyone knows what to do, how to act and where to go. Besides, you have to at least know how to hold a gun and how to use it.”
Meanwhile, more elite soldiers from the US Army arrived in Poland on Monday morning to help secure NATO's eastern border.
Overall, US President Biden has sent almost 3,000 additional soldiers to Poland and Romania in response to the ongoing Russian troop deployment on the Ukrainian border.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in turn, landed in Washington on Monday to talk to Biden about the tense situation during the day.