British-made anti-aircraft missiles are about to be deployed by Ukraine in the conflict for the first time, the British government announced this Sunday.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told The Mail on Sunday that the Starstreak system, portable high-speed missiles to shoot down enemy planes flying at low altitude, would begin to be used by Ukrainian troops imminently.
Wallace said that the first Ukrainian troops had been trained and were already deployed with Starstreak, adding that the United Kingdom was “doing more than almost anyone else” to help the country invaded by Putin.
On the other hand, the Minister of Defense ruled out the supply of tanks, one of Ukrainian President Zelensky's requests to Western allies.
“One of the biggest challenges is that the more progress is made in the sophistication of weapons systems, the more training is needed to use them, which is why the real focus of the effort must be to help Ukrainians restore or locate Russian or Soviet equipment that is already in their inventory. Just providing British tanks wouldn't really work,” Wallace said.
Last Wednesday, on the eve of two NATO and G7 summits, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had already announced the delivery of 6,000 additional missiles to Ukraine, doubling its defensive weapons supplies to the country since the Russian invasion.
Despite the “extraordinarily brave” resistance of Ukrainians, “we cannot stand idly by and let the Russians destroy Ukrainian cities,” Johnson said.
These 6,000 defensive missiles were added to the more than 4,000 anti-tank missiles, including NLAW and Javelin, and Starstreak that had already been sent by the United Kingdom to Ukraine.
Johnson also announced 25 million pounds (33 million dollars, 30 million euros) aid to the Ukrainian army, in addition to the 400 million pounds of economic and humanitarian aid already promised.
“A month after the start of the crisis, the international community is facing a choice,” warned the British president. “We can keep the flame of freedom burning in Ukraine, or risk its extinction throughout Europe and the world,” he said.
The United Kingdom will also allocate £4.1 million to BBC World Service, the international service of the British public broadcasting group, to “combat misinformation in Russia and Ukraine”, and provide greater support to the ICTY's investigation into possible war crimes.
In this regard, Wallace warned on Sunday that Putin's generals are facing a reckoning similar to the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis after World War II for war crimes in Ukraine, with Mikhail Mizintsev, the so-called “Butcher of Mariupol”, at the top of the list for his bombing of civilians in the city.
“The systematic destruction of more than 1,000 properties in Mariupol is contrary to the Geneva Conventions. The type of weapons used and the manner in which they are delivered indicate a deliberate goal,” Wallace said.
“In the end, justice reaches most people, and I have no doubt it will eventually. Right now, the reckoning seems to be happening on the ground with a significant number of Russian [military] leaders killed,” he concluded.
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