Ukrainian troops have begun training in Britain

A small number of Ukrainian troops have been training in Britain for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion, while Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stepped up military support to fight Ukraine’s neighbor. Reuters reported.

A spokesman for Johnson said troops had begun training with armored patrol vehicles provided by Britain this month.

The UK supplies 120 armored vehicles to Ukraine, including a Mastiff vehicle that can be used as a spy or patrol vehicle. A spokesman said the United Kingdom, along with its allies, was providing Ukrainian soldiers with a new type of equipment that had never been used before.

“It is understandable that they are getting the training they need to make the best use of it,” he said.

Johnson has been at the forefront of efforts to supply military equipment to Ukraine since the start of the war, under pressure from parties at his Downing Street home during the Corona virus crackdown.

The British leader had a close relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky, with whom he spoke by phone and met with him in Kiev.

Members of the Ukrainian government went to a military base in the United Kingdom in April, where they demonstrated with equipment, followed by talks about how the government would provide weapons. The British military has been training Ukrainian forces since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The British military withdrew in February to avoid a direct confrontation with Russian forces and the possibility of being drawn into a NATO conflict.

Since the beginning of the war, the United Kingdom has provided Ukraine with light anti-ship, anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons that have proven useful for mobile Ukrainian fighters against Russian armored vehicles.

The U.S. military is also training Ukrainian troops to use howitzers, while the United Kingdom is training Ukrainians in Poland to use anti-aircraft weapons.