Fighting surged again this week in eastern Ukraine, where government troops are battling separatist militias and their Russian allies.
NATO is responding by sending troops and equipment to eastern Europe, and it's also giving defensive training to Ukraine's beleaguered army.
First, you need to know how bad things were for the Ukrainian army when separatist militias and their Russian allies began the fight in eastern Ukraine in April 2014.
Miroslav Gai volunteered for the army last winter.
I met him in Kiev, and this is how he described its state of readiness: "The army gave me just my