Sunak claims British soldiers will not be deployed in Ukraine
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The UK premier says it might be possible for his country to train Kiev forces in Ukraine in the future.
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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves the BBC headquarters, in Manchester, northern England, after appearing on the BBC's Sunday Morning political television show, on October 1, 2023 (AFP)
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed on Sunday that British soldiers would not be sent to participate in the war in Ukraine.
On Saturday, UK Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps said the United Kingdom was mulling the possibility of deploying its military in Ukraine to train the Ukrainian armed forces.
"There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict," Sunak was quoted as saying by the Sky News broadcaster.
In the same context, the UK premier indicated that although the training of Ukrainian soldiers by UK instructors is possible in theory, it is "something for the long-term, not the here and now."
"What the defense secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine," he explained.
For over a year now, Kiev troops have been traveling to foreign bases to receive military training and battle preparations by host nations as part of a UK-led international program dubbed "Operation Interflex".
Shapps, who made an official visit to the capital Kiev last week, told the Telegraph that the plan is to move more UK-led "training and production" operations into Ukraine rather than rely on foreign bases, including those in the UK.
He called for more British arms contractors to build production sites in Ukraine, which would help with supply chain issues and delays.
"I was talking today about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well," the secretary said.
According to Shapps, the main region for these projects would be in Western Ukraine. He stressed that he sees that the "opportunity now is to bring more things in the country - not just training, but also we're seeing BAE [the UK defense firm], for example, move into manufacturing in the country, for example."
"I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country."
London has been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
The NATO country is actively engaged in delivering training to Ukrainian forces on the utilization of these armaments and equipment.
In mid-July, the UK's Defense Ministry announced that 18,000 Ukrainian recruits finished their training in the country. But the total number of prepped Ukrainian troops is much larger, considering that Operation Interflex also involves other countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden.
In addition to financial, military, and intelligence assistance, the British government was also one of the first countries to provide Kiev with advanced battle tanks and long-range missiles.
Read more: US, UK involved in Ukraine's missile attack on Sevastopol: Moscow
