According to a junior defense minister, soldiers will soon learn how to drive armored cars that London will deliver to Kiev.
James Heappey, the UK armed forces minister, confirmed on Tuesday that the country’s military will train Ukrainian soldiers on British soil. Unspecified numbers of troops will arrive in the area. “next few days”To learn how to operate the armored vehicles Britain pledged it would supply Ukraine during its ongoing conflict with Russia.
“There’s 120 armored vehicles that are in the process of being made ready,”Heappey said it on LBC Radio
“And the Ukrainian troops that will operate them will arrive in the UK in the next few days to learn how to drive and command those vehicles.”
London pledged new arms to Ukraine last week during the unexpected visit by PM Boris Johnson. He visited the capital with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Ziensky and pledged further. “financial and military aid, which is a testament of our commitment to [the] country’s struggle against Russia’s barbaric campaign,”Johnson spoke.
The package includes 120 armored vehicles as well as Starstreak antiaircraft missiles and 800 NLAW antitank missiles. “high-tech loitering munitions,” also known as ‘suicide drones’. Heappey, in an interview with BBC on Tuesday confirmed that the consignment included anti-ship missiles.
“There are more shoulder-launched anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles that we are sending as well as loitering precision munitions, and as you heard the prime minister say at the weekend, we’re also sending an anti-ship capability as well,”He said.
London was a strong supporter of Kiev’s standoff with Russia. The two countries had been in good standing since before the conflict began. The UK has already sent more than 4,000 NLAW anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, and awarded Kiev a massive £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion) loan package in 2021 to boost its naval capabilities while rallying its allies to ramp-up their military aid to Ukraine.
Britain is also active in training Ukrainian military personnel. It has run the Operation Orbital program since 2014. This project trained approximately 22,000 Ukrainian military personnel, but was suspended after Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February.
Moscow attacked its neighboring state following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements signed in 2014, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Minsk Protocol (German- and French-brokered) was created to provide special status for the Ukrainian states that breakaway areas.
Russia demanded Ukraine declare itself neutral and refuse to join NATO’s military bloc. Kiev maintains that Russia’s offensive was not provoked and denies claims it planned to seize the two republics.
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