LONDON: British defence minister Grant Shapps said on Saturday that Britain wants to deploy army instructors to Ukraine, in addition to provide training to Ukrainian forces in the UK.
Reuters reported that to date, the UK and its allies have avoided an official military presence in Kyiv to decrease the risk of a direct conflict with Moscow.
UK-Ukraine
London has provided five-week military training courses to about 20,000 Ukrainian forces over the past year and wants to train more.
In an interview with a newspaper, the minister said there was the possibility to offer military training within Ukraine following a discussion on Friday with British army top officials.
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Shapps said that he hoped UK defence companies such as BAE Systems (BAES.L) would proceed with plans to establish weapons factories in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s leader Zelenskiy said on Saturday he wants to turn his nation’s defence industry into a “large military hub” by affiliating with Western arms producers to increase weapons supplies for Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces.
