British Prime Minister denies plans to send troops to Ukraine
(Baonghean.vn) - On October 1, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that there are currently no plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine. This information refutes previous statements by the British Defense Secretary that the British military could conduct training in Ukraine.
So far, Britain and its allies have avoided a formal military presence in Ukraine to reduce the risk of direct conflict with Russia.
According to Reuters, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, who was appointed to the position last month, said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that he wanted to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain or other Western countries.
Hours after that interview was broadcast, Mr Sunak confirmed there were no immediate plans to send British troops to Ukraine.
“What the defence secretary said is that it is possible that at some point in the future we will be doing some of that training in Ukraine,” Mr Sunak told reporters at the start of the ruling Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester.
"But that's a long-term thing, not a here and now thing. No British soldiers will be sent to fight in the current conflict."
Also on October 1, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared that any British soldiers training the Ukrainian army in Ukraine would become a legitimate target of Russian forces.
Britain has provided five weeks of military training to about 20,000 Ukrainians over the past year and plans to train a similar number in the coming period.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Shapps said there was a possibility of providing military training in Ukraine following discussions on Friday with British army commanders.
“Today I talked about finally bringing the training closer and actually inside Ukraine,” he said.
Shapps added that he hoped British defence companies such as BAE Systems would go ahead with plans to set up weapons factories in Ukraine.
In his speech at the conference, Shapps did not refer to his previous comments, however, he said the war in Ukraine was consuming weapons and people "at a terrifying rate" but "we must remain steadfast" in supporting the country in its fight with Russia.
Shapps also said hundreds of British peacekeepers would be sent to Kosovo in the coming days following the worst violence in the north of the country in years.
British fighter jets have also been sent to Poland this weekend to help protect NATO's eastern flank at the request of the Polish government ahead of national elections in October, the British Defence Secretary revealed.