2024-03-09 16:19:45
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron expressed his opposition to sending Western forces to Ukraine, even for training purposes, in light of increased discussion of such a step recently.
Cameron said, in an interview with the German newspaper “Züddeutsche Zeitung” published on Saturday, that “training missions are better carried out outside the country,” in response to a question about whether ruling out sending soldiers from Western countries to Ukraine was the right step in light of the current circumstances.
He added: “In the United Kingdom, we have trained 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers,” explaining, “We must avoid providing clear targets for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has sparked widespread controversy recently, after he refused on February 26 to rule out the principle of sending Western forces to Ukraine.
After that, the British Prime Minister’s Office revealed that London had sent a limited number of personnel “to support the Ukrainian armed forces, especially in the field of medical training,” stressing the exclusion of a “large-scale deployment” of the forces.
In turn, French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sebastien Le Cornu, confirmed on Friday that sending “combat forces on the ground” is not on the table, but he touched on paths that could be discussed “to clear mines and train Ukrainian soldiers on Ukrainian territory,” noting that “the more Ukraine’s need for recruitment increases and the more Its army has increased need for intensive training.”
In his interview with the German newspaper, Cameron stressed the need to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles, raising the possibility of working to find a way out of Berlin’s reservations about supplying Kiev with German-made “Taurus” missiles.
In response to a question in this regard, the British minister said: “We are determined to cooperate closely on this issue with our German partners, as with all other partners, for the purpose of helping Ukraine.”
He said: “We are ready to explore all options to provide the maximum benefit to Ukraine, but I will not go into details and will not reveal to our enemies what we intend to do.”
The last comment came in response to a question from the newspaper regarding Berlin’s proposal to sell “Taurus” missiles to London, in exchange for which Britain would send more “Storm Shadow” missiles to Ukraine.
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