TIME April 22, 2022: We have been providing basic tactical training: How to handle weapons without shooting yourself. You start with basic procedures because a lot of people think they're very advanced but they don't know how to move tactically, without being seen, or they don't understand camouflage and basic weapons handling or formations. We did do some sniper training, but it was really more marksmanship training. 

Our interaction has been with the Ukrainian SOF and Ministry of Defence of Ukraine not with President Volodymyr Zelensky himself. And there has been a broad mix of Ukrainians; from guys who had spent some years in the military, snipers and those who had spent time in the territorial defense, to middle aged women.

I have observed that the Ukranians are good at a number of things and are better at U.K. and U.S. troops in a number of key areas. One of those is understanding a drone and what drones can do. Not just strike drones, but how drones extend the reach of your senses. They also understand how to use precision fires, they take basic quadcopters and turn them into deadly weapons. There is some very ingenious stuff going on.

The Ukranians' morale is remarkably high. It was even when Kyiv was under threat. It's just this confidence that the Russians will not win that increases with the more atrocities that they come across. I've been through Iraq and Afghanistan and I was in Mogadishu before that. I have fought against the Islamic State. Obviously you hear bad things happening in war. 

I'm not any stranger to how depraved people can become. But I was saying to someone the other day that I have a greater respect for the ethical behavior of the Islamic State than I do for the Russians. That is no exaggeration. I've never committed a war crime, I've always told my guys that we fight with the values we represent, we don't adopt those of our enemy. I don't think of myself as a vicious person, but currently, I'm filled with the deepest contempt and anger.