UK sends 30 elite troops, 2000 anti-tank weapons to Ukraine amid Russian invasion fears

Britain has dispatched around 30 elite troops, some 2,000 anti-tank missile launchers, and the British surveillance aircraft to Ukraine under Operational Orbital [official name of British military's security assistance mission to Kyiv that began in 2015 after Moscow annexation of Crimea] amid the fears of the imminent Russian invasion. Members of the UK’s Ranger Regiment, part of the army's newly formed Special Operations Brigade, flew out the military planes with the anti-tank weaponry to help Kyiv soldiers fight over 127,000  Russian forces that have amassed on the border, sources revealed to Britain’s SKY news. 

“Their deployment is not routine, and they are equipped with tanks, armoured fighting vehicles, rocket artillery, and short-range ballistic missiles," UK Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace tells British press. 

British Royal Air Force C-17 transport aircraft was spotted on the open-source flight-tracking software flying back and forth between England and Kyiv, and several "several" military aircraft have since been flying to Ukraine, including the cargo C-17 transport aircraft that was spotted unloading anti-tank weapons in the Ukrainian territory. 

British airbridge operation was spotted by the reporters delivering Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapons, or NLAWs, also known as Main Battle Tank and Light Anti-tank Weapon (MBT LAW) to Ukraine. British Royal Airforce conducted sorties to Boryspil International Airport in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv earlier yesterday.

NLAWS is "the first-ever single soldier missile system that rapidly knocks out any Main Battle Tank in just one shot by striking it from above”. It remains unclear how many NLAWs Ukraine will be supplied with by Britain. The UK has also dispatched additional US-made Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, the most significant defence acquisition to counter Russian defence forces. 

They have been taking designed routes that appeared to avoid the German airspace, as they conducted operations for arms shipments. Although it remains unclear why the UK avoided the routes that skirt Germany, experts speculate it may be to avoid flaring fresh tensions between Moscow and NATO alliance. British Air Force has been flying aircraft over the North Sea, via Denmark, and over the Baltic Sea. “They then turn southeast and fly through Poland to Ukraine,” British press reporters suggest. 

UK’s former RAF C-17 pilot, Andy Netherwood, stated in a tweet that the aviation route to fly a planeload of munition into Kyiv may be to avoid weather conditions and is an “entirely normal procedure.” Geopolitical think tanks believe that it may be due to the recently heightened tensions between Russia and Germany as the  German chancellor had threatened to halt the gas pipeline project called Nord Stream 2 if the Kremlin launched an offensive on Ukraine. 

[Credit: twitter/@spriter99880]

UK 'determined to stand by Ukraine': British Defense Min Wallace 

UK has been at the forefront, being the first country to scramble to provide military support to Ukraine as US intel found that Russia is planning a new, large-scale multi-front military intervention into Ukraine and has mobilized troops ostensibly from the Belarusian front. "We have taken the decision to supply Ukraine with light, anti-armour, defensive weapon systems," UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told members of the country's parliament yesterday. "A small number of UK personnel will also provide early-stage training for a short period of time, within the framework of Operation Orbital before then returning to the United Kingdom."

UK Defence Journal, George Allison, posted the time-lapse of the British aircraft's journey which it said began on Monday this week. Britain will ramp up the military support and will supply more arms to Ukraine to thwart the prospects of the Russian invasion, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace at the parliament yesterday. 

In an interview with UK’s Daily Mail, Wallace said: “I will keep the question of sending more defensive weapons to Ukraine under close review. I do not rule anything out within helping Ukraine deliver self-defense.” Further, he iterated that the UK “is determined to stand by Ukraine, its sovereignty and our mutual interests.”

Britain has been quietly helping Kyiv soldiers build defensive capacity for eight years now, and the British Royal forces recently this week started to bolster the arms supply in order to increase the military assistance to combat the Russian aggression. “Britain stands by its allies,” Britain’s Defense minister Wallace said. Moscow, in response, accused the UK of ‘fuelling tensions in the region with the shipment of military weapons and deployment of anti-tanker missiles.“It is crystal clear that UK shipment of lethal weapons to Ukraine will only fuel the crisis and increase tensions,” Moscow’s embassy in London tweeted.

Wallace asserted, ”Let me be clear: this support is for short-range, and clearly defensive weapons capabilities; they are not strategic weapons and pose no threat to Russia.” He continued, ”They are to use in self-defence and the UK personnel providing the early-stage training will return to the United Kingdom after completing it."