UK prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed that dozens of Ukrainian soldiers are training in the UK, learning how to use 120 British armoured vehicles before returning with them to fight in the war against Russia.
British forces are also training Ukrainian counterparts in Poland on how to use anti-aircraft missiles, the prime minister said.
I can say that we are currently training Ukrainians in Poland in the use of anti-aircraft defence, and actually in the UK in the use of armoured vehicles,” Johnson said.
Britain has agreed to send at least 120 armoured vehicles, 80 of which are the Mastiff, Husky and Wolfhound protected mobility vehicles, which the British army says are designed to be used in “combat, combat support and combat service roles” driving troops behind and up to the frontlines.
The other 40 vehicles are for combat reconnaissance, including the Spartan, which can carry four soldiers plus a crew of three, Samaritan ambulances, Sultan armoured command vehicles, and Samson armoured recovery vehicles.
Training on them takes a few weeks, defence sources said, largely so that the Ukrainians can become familiar with the control systems available.
The British forces in Poland are understood to be training the Ukrainian military in using the Starstreak air defence missile system and the Stormer vehicles from which the weapons are launched.
We are moving, in conjunction with our allies, to providing new types of equipment that perhaps the Ukrainians wouldn’t have had previous experience of, so it’s only sensible that they get the requisite training to make the best use of it,” Johnson’s spokesperson said.