 Ukraine trains 40,000 new troops for counter-offensive. Ukraine has said it will use eight new storm brigades totaling 40,000 soldiers during a counter-offensive against Russia in coming weeks or months. The new brigades, drafted by the Interior Ministry, will fight alongside regular army units bolstered by new Western battle tanks and thousands of fresh troops trained by Allied armies outside Ukraine. The units have benefited from an aggressive recruiting campaign on social media and billboards with the aim of attracting highly motivated volunteers. The brigades have catchy names, Hurricane Spartan, Shavona, Kalina, Frontier, Rage, Azov, and Karadag, a mountain in Crimea. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko told Reuters he believed Ukraine still had considerable mobilization potential and that his recruits included women, people with no military experience and former police officers and servicemen. A great deal is riding on the counter-offensive for Kiev. For them, the objective is to liberate Ukraine. Klymenko said of the recruits during an interview in Kiev, we are writing the great history of our state for many future decades. Ukraine launched its recruitment campaign for the storm brigades at the beginning of February. Klymenko said it would take up to four months to train civilians without experience, but that ex-police officers or soldiers could be trained in two. Klymenko said 2.5% of the brigades were made up of female fighters. Our women are patriotic enough, strong, and they hate the enemy no less than men. They want to serve.