Great Britain wants to equip Ukraine with light anti-tank weapons. The aim is to improve Ukraine’s defense capabilities, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in Parliament on Monday evening. “These are not strategic weapons and they do not pose a threat to Russia. They are intended to be used in self-defense,” he stressed. Wallace invited his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu to a meeting in London to discuss security issues, Wallace said before parliament.
A small number of British army personnel are to train the Ukrainian military on how to use the weapons, the minister said. Great Britain already supports Kiev with the navy. According to Wallace, more than 22,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been trained by the British since 2015. However, Wallace cautioned that British soldiers would not be deployed on Ukrainian soil in the event of a war with Russia.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Britain Vadim Pristaiko welcomed the arms shipments. It remains to be seen whether that will make a difference on the battlefield, he told the BBC on Monday evening. There is also still no solution as to how the weapons should get into Ukraine.
There could be problems with Germany here: The British Air Force therefore flew around the airspace of Germany and other countries when delivering weapons to Ukraine. The two C-17 transport planes flew a longer route to Ukraine via Denmark and Poland, the UK Defense Journal reported on Tuesday. When asked, the German Ministry of Defense stated that there was no British application for an overflight permit.
The NATO partners have a permanent overflight permit for regular flights among themselves. As in many other countries, a permit (diplomatic clearance) must be obtained for the transport of weapons or ammunition via Germany. (BLZ, with dpa)