What I don’t quite understand is, how can British troops - which have no fighting experience - reasonably train Ukrainian troops which now have 1.5 years of experience on the exact ground the new guys will be fighting?
how can British troops - which have no fighting experience
You clearly do not read the news much do you. Afghanistan, Iraq x 2, Kosovo. This is as well as the covert ops the UK has taken part in. As for the Ukraine having 1.5 yrs of experience, they have kept the Russians at bay partly because of the advice from NATO as well as experience on how to use the weapons donated.
There is nothing to be gained by training in Ukraine. This is just political points scoring by the Tories who are under immense political pressure from their own party. This is placing a target on the personnel who will be based in Ukraine. It also opens the UK to attacks without the backing of NATO behind it. NATO only applies when the country is attacked first.
I’m sure they could be of use for showing them specifics on weapon platforms and such.
They can’t, but it looks good without Britain having to toss more money at the dumpster fire.
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In terms of the value of military equipment committed to Ukraine, EU+UK are ahead of the USA when taken together by IFW Kiel’s numbers. That’s only military aid by the way, not factoring in humanitarian aid or housing refugees and such. That’s not to say the US isn’t pulling its weight, of course. It is. Just don’t go around saying nobody else is, because they are
Iirc many eastern European countries are sending more equipment and weapons per capita than the US like Poland.
Yeah but they don’t have the cultural and media power of the US.
almostnotNATOThis is the best summary I could come up with:
The new defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said he has held talks with army leaders about deploying British troops within Ukraine for the first time for a training programme.
Shapps, who met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for talks in Kyiv earlier this week, said the proposal being discussed would reduce the reliance on the UK and other Nato members’ bases.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Shapps also disclosed that he talked to Zelenskiy about how the navy could help to defend commercial vessels from Russian attacks in the Black Sea.
After a briefing with Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the general staff, and other senior personnel at Salisbury Plain, Shapps said: “I was talking today about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well.
Shapps replaced Ben Wallace in August for his fifth cabinet post in a year, prompting criticism from some Conservative MPs and former military figures about his lack of relevant experience.
He also suggested that Britain was preparing to help Ukraine counter the Russian army’s targeting of cargo ships.
The original article contains 473 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
