Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey visits St Sophia Cathedral during a visit to Kyiv on December 18, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The U.K. could send troops to Ukraine to train Ukrainians, U.K. Defence Secretary John Healey has suggested. The U.K. has only a team of medical personnel within Ukraine and has been training Ukrainian troops within Britain since 2022. The suggestion comes as European countries seek to strengthen Kyiv’s hand before it any negotiations to end the war with Russia.

The U.K. would need to make the training of troops “a better fit” for what Ukraine needed, Mr. Healey said en route to Kyiv on Wednesday (December 18, 2024), as per a report in The Times.

“We will look wherever we can to respond to what the Ukrainians want. They are the ones fighting,” he said when asked about whether this meant British troops training Ukrainians in Ukraine, The Times reported.

Western countries have aided Ukraine in terms of financing, weaponry and intelligence but avoided sending troops to the country in order to not become direct parties to the conflict with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Mr. Healey’s remarks came on a day when U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke on the phone. Mr. Starmer told Mr. Trump that allies would need to stand together to support Ukraine and ensure it is “in the strongest possible position” , Downing Street said.

Several European countries and the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are trying to ensure that Kyiv is strengthened before any negotiations with Moscow.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte reiterated this message on Wednesday (December 18, 2024) in Brussels during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and some other European leaders, who had gathered in the Belgian capital for a European Union summit level meeting with Mr. Zelenksyy on Thursday (December 19, 2024).

Mr. Trump has suggested the U.S. could pull out of NATO and curb funding for Ukraine. The President Elect has also expressed a keenness had called for an “immediate ceasefire” after meeting Mr. Zelenskyy in Paris on December 8.

Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The British government said on Friday (September 6, 2024) that it would provide Ukraine with 650 lightweight multi-role missiles worth 162 million pounds ($213.13 million) to help protect the country from Russian drones and bombing.

Russia last week unleashed its largest air attack on Ukraine since the full-scale war began early in 2022. Ukraine has made repeated requests for more air defence support to defend itself from missile and drone attacks.

The new supply of missiles was announced as British Defence Minister John Healey attended the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an ad-hoc coalition of some 50 nations, at a U.S. air base in Germany.

The Ministry of Defence said, in keeping with the new government’s commitment to speed deliveries of aid to Ukraine, the first batch of missiles announced on Friday were expected to arrive by the end of the year.

“This new commitment will give an important boost to Ukraine’s air defences,” Mr. Healey said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defence said the missiles made by Thales have a range of more than 6 kilometres (3.73 miles) and can be fired from a variety of platforms on land, sea, and air.

Last Monday (September 2, 2024), Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide in what Kyiv called the war’s “most massive” attack.

Kyiv:

The UK’s new defence minister pledged on Sunday to deliver more artillery guns, ammunition and missiles to Ukraine, stressing London’s ongoing support for Kyiv during a visit to the southern city of Odesa.

John Healey, appointed defence minister Friday by new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, was visiting the port city, a frequent target of Russian missile and drone strikes, on his first international trip.

“There may have been a change in government, but the UK is united for Ukraine,” Healey said, according to a statement published by Britain’s defence ministry.

Healey pledged a new package of assistance including artillery guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition, de-mining vehicles, small military boats, missiles and other equipment, the defence ministry said.

In Odesa, he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

“Our commitment to stand with the Ukrainian people is absolute.”

Traveling to Odesa, Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MP met with President @ZelenskyyUa to confirm Britain’s steadfast commitment to Ukraine will be reinvigorated by the new UK Government.

https://t.co/8WrIagKcy3pic.twitter.com/XjxMQJqOoh

— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) July 7, 2024

I met with the newly appointed Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom. We discussed the implementation of the security agreement and the preparation of a future 100-year cooperation agreement between Ukraine and the UK.

Our defense cooperation enables Ukrainian… pic.twitter.com/IPo3Eqbdio

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 7, 2024

London has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest backers since Russia invaded in February 2022. 

Zelensky posted footage showing Healey laying flowers at a memorial to mark Ukraine’s Navy Day.

He said he had briefed Healey and Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans — who also took up the post last week — on the situation on the battlefield.

In the capital Kyiv over the weekend, the Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp pledged to begin sending F-16 fighter planes to Ukraine “without delay”.

Britain’s Healey also said a major UK aid package announced in April would be delivered “in full to Ukraine within the next 100 days”.

Kyiv has regularly complained about the late arrival of Western military supplies, which are vital to its outmanned and outgunned forces fighting off the Russian invasion. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)