British former senior military officials warn about sending troops to Ukraine
A number of former senior British military and security officials have warned their coury’s prime minister about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, stressing that the military is not currely capable of doing such a thing.
According to RCO News Agency, “Gordon Brown”, the former British security adviser, warned that sending “British peacekeeping forces” to Ukraine is very dangerous, because according to him, the coury’s armed forces are facing a strange lack of funds and resources to do this. They don’t have the job.
The British Prime Minister confirmed that he will discuss such a move with his allies during his upcoming visit to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. He pledged that London would play its part in ensuring Ukraine’s security after any ceasefire with Russia.
According to the Independe newspaper, however, a number of senior British military officials have expressed concern about the plan, including retired Royal Navy Admiral Lord West and Gordon Brown.
Brown warned that “keeping forces in Ukraine is beyond our means right now because the armed forces are horribly underfunded.”
Lord West also told the newspaper: “There’s a lot of scope for engageme that you don’t wa to get io but suddenly you can be in a position to say yes, we’ve got to send more troops!”
He coinued: “When you’re out there on the battlefield, it’s almost as if you’re taking care of another NATO member.” What we need to do is make sure that war doesn’t start again as Putin tries to dominate Ukraine.
But I’m sure there are other ways to ensure that, other than us just waing to have forces there, the retired military official noted.
Lord West’s commes echo those of former army chief Richard Dunnott, who told the i-Paper on Friday: “With everything our military is doing now, I don’t think the size of the army is going to do that (send troops to Ukraine) is big enough.
He also said: “If we wa to do this, we must allocate more resources to the army and seek to increase the size of the army.” This is an importa issue directly related to the future size of the British Army. Otherwise, the number of troops will start to run out very quickly.
Colonel Tim Collins, a former army officer best known for his speech on the eve of the Iraq war in 2003, also said Britain would be exposed to a national embarrassme as a result of the plans, as the army was hollowed out to the poi of destruction.
He emphasized that such an action would expose the “weaknesses and loopholes of the system” and put pressure on the governme to invest more in the British armed forces.
The former army officer added: “I don’t think we can do it, but it would be a good exercise to try and then we can see the weaknesses and holes in the system.” Perhaps the governme will realize the fact that it has depleted the army to the poi of destruction.
The Independe newspaper wrote: Although British ministers have pledged to increase the coury’s defense spending from its curre poi of slightly above 2% to 2.5%, it is still unclear when and how this goal will be achieved.
British Prime Minister Kerr Starmer revealed on Thursday that he is talking to iernational partners, including French Preside Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian Preside Volodymyr Zelensky, about the prospect of Western troops overseeing a future deal.
Starmer then asked if he would agree in principle to sending troops to Ukraine to preserve any peace deal, as Macron has called for. He told Sky News: We will discuss this issue with a number of allies, including Preside Macron and Preside Zelensky, and we will play our role fully.
He stated: We have always been one of the leading couries in the defense of Ukraine, and therefore, we will complete our role. But I don’t wa to get ahead of ourselves, because this has to be sustainable.
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