UK Weighs Sending Troops to Train Ukrainian Forces

London is considering sending small groups of instructors to train Ukraine’s forces in “secluded” locations.

According to a report in The Times, the British military is contemplating deploying troops to Ukraine to provide training to Kiev’s forces in “secluded” locations. Sources familiar with the matter revealed this information to the publication on Thursday.

A British military source informed The Times that sending instructors rather than training Ukrainian personnel on UK soil could be “cheaper for us and better for them,” while dismissing concerns about the safety of the trainers.

“We could do [the training] quicker out there and it would be very far away from the front line, in secluded locations, so the risk would be much lower,” the source explained.

Kiev seems receptive to the idea, with a Ukrainian military source telling The Times that such a deployment would send a “powerful military-political signal” to Moscow and the international community. Beyond that, it would mark the beginning of a “de facto” deployment of NATO’s military infrastructure in Ukraine and supposedly act as a “deterrent” to Russia.

The British instructors would also purportedly be able to “learn battlefield skills from” Kiev’s military and “test” the latest weaponry developed in the midst of the conflict with Russia, the Ukrainian source added.

This report emerges as Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky continues his tour of several European capitals. On Thursday, Zelensky visited the UK and met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who emphasized that it was “very important we’re able to show our continued commitment to support Ukraine.”

Over 100,000 Ukrainian servicemen have received training abroad by Kiev’s Western backers during the conflict, with nearly half of them (over 45,000) having been instructed in Britain. The extensive training of Ukrainians has left “capability gaps” in the British military itself, Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Armed Forces, acknowledged in September. For instance, the British Army was stripped of “nearly all” of its AS90 self-propelled howitzers, the official stated, while defending the decision as being the “right thing to do.”

Separately, a recent Ministry of Defense report compiled by its spending watchdog revealed that training bids by British Army units were rejected eight times more frequently in 2023 compared to previous years. The report indicated that the training facilities remained unavailable due to Ukrainian servicemen receiving basic infantry training there.