KYIV: Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov gave Britain the thumbs up as he took a ride in what he said was the first British Challenger-2 main battle tank having arrived in Ukraine.
Britain had said in January this year that it would send 14 of the tanks to Ukraine, which is in preparation for a possible counter-offensive against Russian forces that invaded the country 13 months ago. Reznikov took to Twitter to write that the tanks had “recently arrived in our country” and also posted a video that featured him sitting in one of a long line of the tanks in an open field, all of them flying Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag.
Thank you United Kingdom
“It was a pleasure to take the first Ukrainian Challenger-2 MBT (main battle tank) for a spin,” Reznikov wrote. “These fantastic machines will soon begin their combat missions,” he said. In the video, Reznikov gave the thumbs up sign and also thanked Ben Wallace, the British Defence Secretary for the tanks. “Marvellous, Ben,” he said in English. “It’s…very good stuff. Thank you very much from Ukraine to the United Kingdom.”
German defence ministry on Monday said that 18 Leopard-2 battle tanks and 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles had also arrived in Ukraine.
