Britain ready to send troops to Ukraine to protect skies and ports
Photo: Admiral Tony Radakin (Getty Images)
Britain is ready to send its troops to Ukraine to protect the skies and seaports, but will not move them closer to the front line with Russia, The Guardian reports, citing Chief of the Defence Staff of Britain, Admiral Tony Radakin.
Radakin will soon inform his American colleagues at a meeting in the Pentagon that British troops will be ready to defend seaports and organize air defense operations in Ukraine.
He will also confirm that Britain will provide soldiers for logistics and training.
Earlier, several sources reported the deployment of up to 30,000 servicemen to protect Ukrainian facilities, but this number was reduced due to the resistance of some European countries.
“Wednesday is a really important moment. Nothing happens in Washington without the president (Donald Trump - ed.) giving the green light, so Trump giving his support to security guarantees on Monday kickstarted a lot of activity,” a source said.
Security guarantees for Ukraine
On August 18, a meeting was held in the White House between the leaders of Ukraine, the US, France, Finland, Germany, Britain, Italy, as well as the head of the European Commission and the NATO Secretary General. The main topic of discussion was security guarantees for Ukraine.
The allies considered introducing protection mechanisms similar to NATO’s Article 5, but outside the Alliance.
During the talks, Donald Trump confirmed the participation of the US in these guarantees, but emphasized that the main burden should fall on the European partners, and ruled out sending American troops to Ukraine.
Following the meeting in the White House, about 10 countries agreed to send troops to Ukraine. All the details regarding the deployment of troops to Ukraine may be discussed in the coming days. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO, as well as the heads of defense ministries of the member states, will take part in the negotiations.
