The United Kingdom said this week that it has begun to supply Ukraine with weapons in order to help the country defend itself if Russia were to invade. The U.K. government has told its Foreign Office to prepare for “crisis mode” with Russia as the situation continues to escalate.
Anti-tank weapons have been sent to Ukraine during the ongoing standoff with Russia, which has massed around 100,000 troops at its border with Ukraine.
Western countries including the U.S. and the U.K. have stated that they fear Russia is preparing the pretext for a new invasion into Ukraine. It last invaded the country in 2014.
The Kremlin denies any plans for an attack but has also said that Russia could take unspecified military action unless Western countries agree to their list of demands. Demands include banning Ukraine from ever being able to join the NATO alliance and rolling back any presence NATO has in countries like Ukraine. During talks between the U.S. and Russia last week, the U.S. said these issues were “non-starters.”
The U.K. has previously warned Russia that it will face severe consequences if it launches a new invasion into Ukraine.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told the country’s parliament that the government made the decision to supply Ukraine with “light anti-armor defensive weapon systems.” This came following requests from Kyiv to Western countries for arms to protect itself from Russia.
The first systems from the U.K. were delivered to Ukraine on Monday. A small number of British personnel also went with it to provide training.
The exact number of weapons was not disclosed. Wallace said that the weapons were not strategic, therefore posed no threat to Russia, and were only for self-defense. He said they should make Russia stop and think about its actions.
Ukraine welcomed the announcement. Ukraine defense minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted that the country highly appreciated the U.K.’s decision to send in the new security package.
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