Facing the possibility of a Russian invasion, more and more Ukrainians are signing up for weapons training. 

Helping them develop their skills is a former soldier from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), who says it is his duty to pass on what he has learned.  

Enrolment at the shooting range where ex-soldier Nikolay Mikulich works in Kyiv has shot up nearly 50 percent in recent months.

Apparently, those who don’t know how to shoot want to learn, and those who do, want to improve. 

"They want at least to be able to protect themselves, their own property and their family," says the former IDF fighter.

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Born and raised in Ukraine, Mikulich served in an Israeli army counter-terror unit but now works with hundreds of trainees ranging from the elderly to young children.

"The Ukrainian army only had its first combat experience and its first need for modern firearms techniques in 2014," he says: "We had such techniques in Israel a long time before."

While handguns are illegal in Ukraine, everything else is seemingly fair game, including semi-automatic weapons, AK-47s, and sniper rifles, which Mikulich's students train with.

One Kyiv resident, Pavel Ivanenko, who was in attendance, says he has a Ukrainian-made Zbroyar Z-15 semi-automatic at home.

"No one knows what will happen, so it's better to be safe than sorry," he says: "A lot of people are nervous right now. For me, it's a way to calm down."

For Mikulich, he's hopefully contributing to keeping some Ukrainians stay safe:

"Some once told me that the skills I helped them to build really helped him to survive."