Kim Sengupta
Britain will double the numbers of Ukrainian troops it is training, it has been announced, as Russian backed separatists launched their biggest assault in six months against government forces.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon declared that the move was imperative
as the violence in the east of the country, orchestrated by Vladimir Putin,
“shows no sign of ending anytime soon”. “Russian inspired terrorism”, he
maintains, has ensured that the conflict was “certainly not frozen” but one
which is “red hot” with Ukraine’s borders “under threat.”
The training programme will raise the total of Ukrainian forces being
trained from a thousand to two thousand by the end of the year. Mr Fallon,
during a visit to Ukraine, also stated that he is open to request from Kiev for
additional trainers; their numbers have already gone up from an initial
deployment of 35 earlier this year to 75, operating in six locations.
The countries providing training for the Ukrainian forces – the US, UK,
Canada, Poland and Lithuania – will be meeting in the autumn, with London the
possible venue, to plan steps to aid the beleaguered government of Ukrainian
president Petro Poroshenko.
Mr Fallon’s visit came on the day that Kiev accused the separatists of
carrying out an offensive with 400 fighters, heavy artillery and tanks around
the village of Starohnativka, 30 miles south of the port of Mariupol, a key
strategic point which has been the focus of sustained fighting.
Control of the port would allow a land corridor to be formed from rebel
controlled territories to Crimea which the Kremlin annexed last year following
the uprising which saw the fall of Russian backed president Viktor Yanukovych.
“This brazen attack by the occupiers took place against a background of
an escalating situation in east Ukraine,“ said military spokesman Andriy
Lysenko of the Kiev government. The separatist attack, he added, was the
heaviest since a battle for the town of Debaltseve in February.
A senior separatist commander Eduard Basurin denied the rebels had
attacked government troops and accused the Ukrainian government of instigating
the upsurge in violence.
Critics have claimed that sending the training team was an ill-thought
reaction by David Cameron who had faced severe criticism for Britain having no
voice in what was going on in the Ukraine. The Minsk II agreement which
resulted in a ceasefire was brokered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and
Francois Hollande, the French President, without any involvement by London.
Mr Fallon dismissed claims that the UK risked “mission creep” and that
Western entanglement in the war will provoke President Putin and jeopardise the
peace process.
“This is not provocative. This is all designed to help the Ukrainian
forces better defend themselves and to save lives. All of it is being well away
from the conflict zone” he insisted. “We were dealing with infantry,
intelligence, medical, logistics.
“ We are going to be adding training in ground threat awareness, train
them in how to recognise mines and IEDs, training them in urban operations, how
to defend themselves better in urban environments, in engineering
expertise, how to fortify themselves better in the field.. “
The continuing Russian threat must not be underestimated, he said:
“While they retain heavy weapons in the Donbass, and significant numbers of
troops, you can’t rule out this continuing threat to Ukraine’s eastern border.”
There have been rising concern that right-wing militias, some of whose
members are openly neo-Nazis, which had been fighting against the rebels have
become highly influential in the Ukrainian security establishment. The Defence
Secretary maintained that the Kiev government has carried out vetting to ensure
that none of those being trained by the British are extremists. “ We are going
to make sure that is the case”, he said.
Mr Fallon continued: “We shouldn't lose sight of just how serious this
situation is. Seven thousand people have already died in the Ukraine, right on
the doorstep of Europe, as Ukraine fights for its freedom. This is not a frozen
conflict, it’s still red hot. Since the Minsk peace agreements themselves have
been signed, around 200 Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives and around
2,000 have been injured. So this is not a frozen conflict and we are not going
to turn our back on Ukraine.”
No comments:
Post a Comment