Olha Dembitska only struck the target once out of the first four bullets she fired from an AK-47 assault rifle. The 22-year-old Ukrainian woman said, “It’s quite challenging the first time.” At a shooting range in the Czech Republic, the target this time was a human body shape. The next time, it may be for real in Ukraine, with one of the Russian forces invading her country as the target.

Dembitska is among at least 130 men and women who’ve already received free training to learn how to combat the attacker in the Czech Republic. “If they need me,” she replied, “I might go back to Ukraine.” Before the conflict in their nation, almost none of the participants had ever handled a firearm.

Since Russia’s horrific onslaught, Ukrainians from all across the nation have been flocking to Brno, the Czech Republic’s second-largest city, to take classes on how to safely handle lethal firearms while inflicting damage on their adversaries.

Aside from learning to shoot, the classes teach students the fundamentals of firearms, battlefield mobility, and first aid, which can save lives if they are mobilised by their troubled homeland or come home as volunteers to join the Ukrainian army. Everyone is fired up.

About the circumstances in her homeland, Dembitska stated, “It’s dreadful.” She receives her news via social media and phone talks with a friend who lives in Kherson, a city in Ukraine’s south that was occupied by Russian soldiers during the invasion’s early phases.

“She is completely honest with me. Humanitarian assistance has not been provided to them. What the Russian troops are doing is a nightmare, and I’m sick of it.” “Our contribution to the support for Ukrainians,” said Michal Ratajsky, the proprietor of CS Solutions, a security firm based on the outskirts of Brno, roughly 200 kilometres southeast of Prague.

“We see it as a morale boost in this scenario, an attempt to demonstrate we’re with them and will do all we can at the time,” Ratajsky said. “That was the driving force behind our efforts.” His firm supplies the rest, including expert instructors, guns, and the shooting range, thanks to a crowd-funding effort.

The three-hour programme, according to Ratajsky, won’t make miracles, but it should be enough to introduce the Ukrainians to new, unfamiliar abilities. “We know we’re not going to turn them into soldiers in three hours,” he added. “We attempt to do the most for them in the shortest amount of time possible, with an emphasis on their safety.” Some of the students have returned for further sessions. Some have travelled from Austria’s neighbouring city of Vienna. According to Ratajsky, several people used the path on their journey back to Ukraine from Western Europe. He stated that the Ukrainian people are unified in their outrage at Russian aggression and are resolved to put a stop to it.

“They take it too seriously and want to do anything about it,” he said, adding that while artillery and missiles account for around 80% of soldier deaths in a battle like the one in Ukraine, a feeling of self-preservation and understanding of first aid may be more valuable for survival than shooting.

“We’re well aware of the boundaries of what we can prepare them for,” Ratajsky added.

Yehor Nechyporenko, 38, who’d already gone 260 km from Mlada Boleslav to Brno for the second time, said he is assisting Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic but wants to be prepared to return home and fight. He remarked of the instruction, “It’s incredibly helpful for me.” “I think it’s fantastic.” Because I did not serve in the military, I must master such skills.” The Russians, according to Nechyporenko, have little prospect of seizing the nation as a whole. He predicted that the conflict will be ended in a few months. “And if it appears that we are losing, we will all return home.”