British troops could carry out training in Ukraine instead of in the UK with defence secretary John Healey saying the government needed to “make the training a better fit”
British troops could be sent to Ukraine as part of training missions as the government aims to forge a new leadership role in the war, according to the defence secretary.
John Healey opened up the possibility that troops could carry out training in Ukraine instead of in the UK. He said the country needed to “make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need.”
Speaking to The Times, he said: “We [need to] make it easier to the Ukrainians to access and we [need to work with the Ukrainians to help them motivate and mobilise more recruits.” When he was asked if it meant extending the training of Ukrainian recruits in the UK to their country he responded: “We will look wherever we can to respond to what the Ukrainians want. They are the ones fighting.”
Healey is in Ukraine and said he would share a five-point plan with his counterpart Rustem Umerov about how the UK would continue to support the country in its war against Russia in the year ahead. This included bolstering the number of Ukrainians being trained by UK forces as well as providing more money and new weapons.
The defence secretary arrived in Ukraine just weeks before US President-Elect Donald Trump returns to the White House following his election victory in November. The Republican has stated he would end the war in a single day, although he has not specified what he means by that.
Healey said any talks regarding Ukraine’s future needed to be made from a “position of strength.” He also does not agree with Trump that negotiations should be opened up with Putin.
He remarked on Trump’s claim he’d quickly end the war, adding: “Anyone who thinks that fight [to] talk is going to be a simple switch, misses I think the likely reality that you may have talking and still fighting. And whether or not you have got talking that may or may not be successful in reaching an agreement.”
The UK defence secretary said Ukraine needed to build up its fighting capabilities to further deter the Russians. The visit comes after Ukraine carried out a high-profile assassination of top Russian general Igor Kirillov.
Despite this Russia has started making gains across the frontline as Putin aims to conquer as much territory from Ukraine ahead of any possible peace talks. But Putin appears unable to order his troops to move deeper into Ukraine after tens of thousands of its soldiers were killed in the war.
