Belarus Interior Ministry troops soldiers take part in the qualifying examinations for the “Madder Beret” headdress in the village of Volovshchina, some 30 km west of Minsk, on October 23, 2018. (Photo by Sergei Gapon/AFP Photo)





A woman carries her baby past an APC of the Shakhtarsk battalion on a beach in Mariupol on September 15, 2014. US-led military exercises began in Ukraine on Monday after a day of deadly fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the restive east that has piled pressure on a shaky 10-day-old truce. (Photo by Aleksey Chernyshev/AFP Photo)





A Ukrainian serviceman shoots with a grenade launcher during a night combat with Russia- backed separatists uptown of Avdiivka, Donetsk region on November 3, 2018. The four- year conflict between pro- Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army has left more than 10,000 people dead since 2014. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov/AFP Photo)





Ukrainian volunteer “Maliy” is cleaning up RPG after 2 failed attempts of shots during night clashes in Mariinka, Ukraine on October 4, 2016. (Photo by Anton Skybano/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)





Members of the Iraqi forces fire mortar shells during battles in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhoodm, as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on May 31, 2017. (Photo by Karim Sahib/AFP Photo)





Servicemen of the special task force units of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service take the all- Russian qualification tests to earn the maroon beret in Mordovia, Russia on October 5, 2018. (Photo by Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS)





A volunteer of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republican guard fires a Konkurs wire-guided anti-tank missile during shooting training in Donetsk March 1, 2015. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)





Pro-Russian separatists take part in a military competition between tank units near the town of Torez in the Donetsk region on September 14, 2015. EU member states formally approved on September 14 a six-month extension of sanctions against Ukrainian and Russian figures accused of backing pro-Moscow rebels fighting to break away from Kiev. (Photo by Aleksey Filippov/AFP Photo)





A fighter, supporter of the Libyan Government of National Accord, uses a dummy to catch the attention of Islamic State group snipers at the frontline in Sirte on September 22, 2016. Ten jihadists and nine pro-government fighters died in clashes around the last positions of the Islamic State group in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the Libyan capital Tripoli, medical and military sources said. (Photo by Fabio Bucciarelli/AFP Photo)





In this April 13, 2007 file photo, Maoist rebels or Naxalites, raise their arms during an exercise at a temporary base in the Abujh Marh forests, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Indian police say government forces have killed at least 14 Maoist rebels during a raid on their hideout in a forested area in western India. (Photo by Mustafa Quraishi/AP Photo)





Members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces play the piano in а destroyed house near their position on the front line in Donetsk Region, Ukraine on February 4, 2019. (Photo by Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters)





In this September 10, 2018, photo released by the U.S. Marines, Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, fire mortars from an undisclosed location in Syria. The United States’ main ally in Syria on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018, rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that Islamic State militants have been defeated and warned that the withdrawal of American troops would lead to a resurgence of the extremist group. (Photo by U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Gabino Perez via AP Photo)





In this May 29, 2018 photo, Syrian opposition fighters atop a machine gun-mounted pickup truck patrol al-Bab, Syria. Turkey is growing long-term roots in its northern Syrian enclave, nearly two years after its troops moved in, modeling the zone on its own towns and bringing in its own administrators and military, financial and security institutions. Turkey aims to keep out its nemesis, the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG. (Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo)





A Muslim militiaman sprints for cover after a tank round, fired by Yugoslav federal army, struck an apartment house across the street in Sarajevo on Saturday, May 2, 1992. The Yugoslav Army attacked the Bosnian capital with mortar rounds and heavy artillery after Muslim forces surrounded the army's barracks here. (Photo by David Brauchli/AP Photo)





Soldiers on exercise in Kenya. The image, by Sergeant Dek Traylor, is among the section winners in the UK Army Photographic Competition 2018. (Photo by Sergeant Dek Traylor/PA Wire Press Association)





Soldiers from 40 Commando, Royal Marines prepare to head out from RFA Lyme Bay on a night time raid as part of exercise “Saif Sareea 3” on October 23, 2018 in the Arabian Sea, Oman. 2018 has been a busy year for the British military as 5500 Regular British military personnel and Reserves from the Navy, Army and Air Force joined 60000 of their Omani counterparts train across the country in Exercise Saif Sareea (SS3) - meaning Swift Sword in Arabic. The UK has a long and established defence relationship with Oman and SS3 underpinned the UK’s commitment to international allies and the ability to conduct a strategic deployment of a war fighting force to the Middle East. Running concurrently to SS3, tri-force troops joined 50000 military personnel from 31 countries in central and eastern Norway for the NATO-led Exercise Trident Juncture 18 (TRJE18). The objective of TRJE 18 being that NATO forces are trained to operate together ready to respond to threats from any direction. HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain's newest aircraft carrier, returns to her home port of Portsmouth next week in time for Christmas. During the past few months the ship has completed sea trials in the Atlantic Sea and successfully tested her capability to land the F-35 Fighter Jets on deck. By 2021 HMS Queen Elizabeth should be deployed on global operations. It can be said that the British military is operating and co-operating on a truly global stage. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)





A shell case is seen as it is ejected from the gun of a Norwegian soldier as he attempts to storm an opposing British Army position, during the live exercise on November 3, 2018 in Elval, Norway. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)





A member of the US Army aircrew surveys the Norwegian countryside from the rear of a US Army Chinook helicopter during pre-exercise integration training on October 27, 2018 in Norway. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)





Major Paul Martin of B Company of the Royal Irish Regiment lights a cigar after setting up camp near a forest during the live exercise on November 2, 2018 in Unset, Norway. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)





Ukrainian soldiers pet a puppy as they control an area near the frontline with Russia-backed separatists in Shyrokyne, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, November 28, 2018. Russia and Ukraine are still reeling from their first overt military confrontation since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, a clash Sunday in the Kerch Strait near Russia-occupied Crimea where Russian border guards fired on three Ukrainian ships, seizing them and their 24 crew members. (Photo by Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)