LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Britain said on Monday it had started supplying anti-tank weapons to Ukraine to help it defend against a possible invasion, an announcement that comes amid growing tensions with Russia, which has massed soldiers on its border in recent months.
Western powers fear that Moscow is preparing a new offensive against Ukraine, after having annexed the Crime Peninsula in 2014. Russia, which has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers on the Ukrainian border, denies any plan of attack and defends its right to deploy its soldiers as it sees fit on its territory.
Moscow has however warned that it could take military measures – without specifying which ones – if the West does not respond favorably to its list of security demands, including the guarantee that NATO will never allow Ukraine to join it.
Discussions organized last week between Russia and the West did not make it possible to advance towards a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stressed the risk of armed conflict in Europe.
Speaking before Parliament, the British Minister of Defense announced Monday that London had taken “the decision to provide Ukraine with light anti-tank defense systems.”
The first deliveries were made during the day, said Ben Wallace, adding that a limited number of members of the British army were going to give training for a short period.
He did not specify the number or type of weapons sent to Ukraine, ensuring however that these weapons “are not strategic and do not represent any threat to Russia. They are used for self-defense.”
“They are short-range,” added the minister, “but that will nevertheless make any belligerents think.” “If tanks came to enter Ukraine, to invade it, then these weapons will be part of the defense mechanism”.
Kiev welcomed the British government’s announcement. “Ukraine greatly appreciates Britain’s decision to provide a new security package (…)”, Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov reacted via Twitter.
Ben Wallace said he had invited his Russian counterpart, Sergue Choigou, to come to London in the coming weeks to discuss the Ukrainian crisis. He said he did not know if Moscow would accept the invitation. (Report Kylie MacLellan and Alistair Smout, with Natalia Zinets and Matthias Williams Kiev; French version Jean Terzian)