Britain 'reserves right' to arm Ukraine: minister

[jakeXT]

Source: AFP

London (AFP) - Britain reserves the right to arm Ukraine and will not allow the Ukrainian army to collapse, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told parliament on Tuesday.

"It's a national decision for each country in the NATO alliance to decide whether to supply lethal aid to Ukraine," he said in a statement to MPs.

"The UK is not planning to do so but we reserve the right to keep this position under review," he said.

Hammond said Russia had "aggravated the effects of its initial incursion" by providing military support to "proxies" fighting in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Britain and its NATO allies "share a clear understanding that, while there is no military solution to this conflict, we could not allow the Ukrainian armed forces to collapse," he said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/britain-reserves-arm-ukraine-minister-142131223.html

[Fred Sanders]

1. Worrying about whether the "Ukraine army" or any army has collapsed means it probably already has.

Mainly under the sheer weight of it's own hypocrisy and lying and plain viciousness.

[mwooldri]

2. Keep that right reserved.

With defence spending cuts, No. 10 would need to justify having the British taxpayer pay for arming the Ukrainian armed forces. Though I suppose lifting arms exports controls and sorting some method of "lend lease" would be a way to put the taxpayer on the hook.

Just keep that right reserved, no need to exercise it.

[jakeXT]

6. General Sir Richard Dannatt condemns armoured vehicle transfer to Ukraine

The former head of the British Army has condemned a decision to deliver dozens of redundant British military armoured vehicles to the Ukrainian government as “nothing short of immoral”.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, who served as Chief of the General Staff between 2006 and 2009, said the Saxon armoured vehicles, which the Ukranian military are planning to convert for use in their fight against Russian-backed separatist forces – are “quite useless”.

Ukranian sources said that 20 Saxons have been delivered to Ukraine, with another 55 expected to arrive soon.

Although the Ministry of Defence would not confirm the figures, it said the vehicles, which were transferred to the Ukrainians under a 2013 deal which predates the current conflict, were not equipped with lethal weapons.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/11412838/Sir-Richard-Dannatt-condemns-armoured-vehicle-transfer-to-Ukraine.html

Free junk ?

[swilton]

3. Furthermore they should be careful what the arm the Ukrainians with

The Ukrainian Army is supposedly very porous so any armaments given to the Ukrainians will likely be compromised to Russia. This is why the notion of making Ukraine a member of NATO is such a bad idea.

[bemildred]

4. Yep.

[samsingh]

5. better do it soon - alot of Ukrainians are getting killed