The government of Britain will be deploying military instructors to Ukraine, along with providing training to Ukrainian armed forces present in Britain or other Western countries, said British defence minister Grant Shapps, in a newspaper interview.
To date, Britain and its allies never had a formal military presence in Ukraine as they tried to avoid getting engaged in a direct conflict with Russia.
A five-week military training course was provided by Britain to nearly 20,000 Ukrainians in the past year, and the country now aims to train a similar number in days ahead.
While speaking to the Sunday Telegraph newspaper in an interview, Shapps said that they can provide military training within Ukraine after holding a discussion with British military chiefs on Friday (Sep 29).
"I was talking today about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well. Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things 'in the country'," he said.
The minister added that he wished British defence companies like BAE Systems would go ahead with plans to establish arms factories in Ukraine.
Zelensky says will make the defence industry into a "large military hub"
On Saturday (Sep 30), Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky that he wished to turn Kyiv's defence industry into a "large military hub" by entering into a partnership with Western weapons manufacturers which can increase arms supplies for a counteroffensive of Ukraine against Russia.
On September 1, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed Shapps as defence minister after his predecessor Ben Wallace resigned.
Meanwhile, specialists are also set to arrive in Ukraine in the days ahead to make plans to establish of production of military equipment which includes air defences, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff stated earlier.
“I think very soon specialists will arrive here who will make a plan for our own production of everything that we need. First and foremost, this relates to air defences,” said Andriy Yermak.
Yermak spoke broadly about the visit of President Volodymyr Zelensky to the United States last week, however, it remained unclear if the specialists and the systems he was referring to would come from the United States.
The presidential aide also said that Ukraine was aiming to organise an international meeting of national security advisers to discuss the peace formula of Kyiv in the second half of October.
Source: WION
BDST: 1008 HRS, OCT 01, 2023
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