On Sunday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak addressed recent comments by Defence Minister Grant Shapps, asserting that there are no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine. Shapps had expressed a desire to train Ukrainian troops in the country, prompting concerns about heightened tensions with Russia.
Sunak, speaking at the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester, clarified, “What the defence 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, but that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.”
The UK and its allies have, until now, refrained from establishing a formal military presence in Ukraine to mitigate the risk of direct conflict with Russia. Shapps, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, mentioned the possibility of deploying military instructors to Ukraine in addition to continuing training programs for Ukrainian armed forces in the UK or other Western countries.
Shortly after Shapps’ interview, Sunak clarified the government’s position, emphasising that any potential training in Ukraine would be a long-term consideration. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that British soldiers training Ukrainian troops in Ukraine would be seen as legitimate targets for Russian forces.
