Support from the first hour of Ukraine, the United Kingdom also announced at the beginning of February that it would train Ukrainian fighter pilots, opening the door in the long term to the supply of planes to NATO standards.
The first British Challenger tanks have arrived in Ukraine, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced on Monday evening, along with new Western military equipment to help Kiev repel the Russian invasion.
Oleksiï Reznikov indicated that “British Challengers, American Strykers and Cougars and German Marders” had “added to the Ukrainian units”.
The Minister posted a photo of these vehicles in his Facebook post, without saying when exactly they arrived. A spokeswoman for the Ukrainian ministry, Iryna Zolotar, confirmed that the Challenger tanks “are already in Ukraine”, without giving the exact number at this stage.
“Better equipped, but no less in danger”
Ukrainian soldiers have completed their training in the UK to learn how to handle the 14 Challenger 2 tanks supplied by London to Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, the British Ministry of Defense announced earlier on Monday.
Their training began shortly after the announcement in early January of the supply of these tanks by the United Kingdom. “The United Kingdom is sending the Challenger 2 tanks, which will soon be in the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces,” the British ministry said in a statement.
London had previously mentioned a delivery in March, without giving further details on the delivery schedule.
The Ukrainian soldiers thus trained, whose number has not been specified, return to their country “better equipped, but no less in danger”, declared the British Minister of Defense Ben Wallace.
Westerners believe Ukraine has the right to defend itself, but some are reluctant to deliver weapons that would escalate the conflict by allowing Ukraine to hit Russia.
Slovakia recently delivered four MiG-29s to Ukraine and Poland has promised to do the same.
