The UK has started turning the first of around 10,000 Ukrainian recruits into frontline soldiers at four bases across England, safe from Russian missile fire, it can be revealed.
The new troops, operating in groups of about 200, have been arriving from Ukraine daily to join a specially-condensed training programme offered by British soldiers. They will then return home to fight Russia's invading forces.
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British commanders aim to have 2,400 recruits rotating through the course at any one time as they mobilise to meet a target of training 10,000 Ukrainian personnel within 120 days.
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With Ukraine losing up to 200 soldiers every 24 hours in its war with Russia, the ability to generate manpower is vital. These are "battle casualty replacements", a senior officer said.
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Running the training programme in the UK gives the recruits the chance to learn from British soldiers and - crucially - protects them from the threat of Russian attacks.
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A Ukrainian training facility was hit in an airstrike last month as a number of trainees prepared to make their trip to Britain.
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Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP - a potential contender to become the next prime minister - visited a training site in northwest England on Thursday to meet recruits and speak with commanders.
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He signalled that the UK could offer to train even more than the target of 10,000 recruits.
"If the Ukrainians ask for more, we'll be open to more," Mr Wallace said.
Asked how many more, he said: "We could do thousands and thousands."
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BREAKING: The heads of MI5 and the @FBI have used an unprecedented joint speech to warn that China is their biggest “game-changing challenge”, with the UK doubling efforts to combat Chinese "activity of concern". 1/
Christopher Wray, the FBI director, said Beijing is drawing lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Talking about the Chinese threat against Taiwan, he said the Chinese government was looking for ways to protect its economy against any potential, future sanctions. 2/
“In our world, we call that kind of behaviour a clue,” Mr Wray said, sharing a platform with Ken McCallum on a visit to MI5’s headquarters in London. Western allies used sweeping sanctions to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine. 3/
BREAKING: NATO will boost its forces on high readiness to "well over 300,000", the head of the alliance @jensstoltenberg says.
This will be part of the "biggest overhaul" of NATO's defence since the Cold War, he tells a briefing.
It will be agreed at a summit this week
NATO chief @jensstoltenberg says another aim of the summit is to "make progress" with a bid by Sweden & Finland to join NATO - a move that's met with concern from Turkey. NATO chief met Turkey's President on Saturday & will meet PM today. No promise it can be resolved by Madrid
I wrote about these plans last week. At the time two military sources said they thought the planned up lift in the rapid response force would be around 6-fold. But this new figure of well over 300,000 is even higher!
NEW: #NATO looks set to agree next week to the biggest overhaul of its defences since the Cold War, including a major expansion of a 40,000-strong rapid response force.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine (not a NATO member) has triggered a fundamental rethink in how to deter Putin.
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Long-standing defence plans that had not received much traction prior to 24 February - the day Moscow launched its all-out assault on Kyiv - are starting to become a reality as leaders meet for a landmark summit in Spain from 28-30 June.
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"Overnight the mentality changed," said a NATO officer. "NATO now feels like it is electrified. You can feel the energy surging through the system."
A diplomat predicted the Madrid summit will deliver - or at least agree the framework to deliver - "a radical change in posture"
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Estonia has accused Russia of violating its airspace for the first time by helicopter, in a highly provocative move ahead of a key #NATO summit. The Baltic state, a NATO member, also said ongoing Russian military exercises are simulating missile strikes against its country daily.
"This is the picture of the threat. How we see the Russian threat… It has never been as serious as it is now," said Kusti Salm, the top civil servant at the Estonian defence ministry, speaking to journalists on Tuesday.
Estonia said it has summoned the Russian ambassador to Tallinn to protest at the flight path of the MI-8 border guard helicopter, which it said entered Estonian airspace for two minutes without permission on Saturday evening.
BREAKING: Russia out numbers Ukraine in artillery fire by 20 to 1 in some parts of the warzone, the UK Defence Secretary @BWallaceMP has said. But he said allies are starting to give Ukraine the long-range artillery and rocket systems that will enable Ukrainian forces to win.
The UK Defence Secretary predicted Ukrainian forces would soon be able to make “significant progress in the east of the country”.
He said training Ukrainians troops on how to use these more complex heavy weapons systems was also a key part of the West’s support effort.
In addition, @BWallaceMP - speaking after a meeting of #NATO defence ministers in Brussels - said it was not just about the number of artillery pieces it was about the capability that a single western system used properly could bring.
Ukraine’s @oleksiireznikov has written an informative post on Russia’s war, warning of “extremely tough weeks ahead”:
- 1,500+ 🇺🇦 personnel in process of training on foreign weapons to help combat the greater arsenal of 🇷🇺 heavy weapons. Levelling this playing field = key
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- Those trained on this foreign military kit will return as instructors. “Some of them, like artillerymen, will go straight into battle”
- Ukraine is growing capacity to make defence equipment. Eg split of body armour made by 🇺🇦MOD vs other sources = 50:50 in Feb. Now = 57:43
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- Heavy weaponry arriving in Ukraine - “American 155-mm M777 howitzers are already working at the front lines. 3 months ago, it was considered impossible”
- But “time will pass until heavy weaponry will balance the scales & ensure a breakthrough… current presence is limited”
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