America News Agency

According to the newspaper, in February 2022, dozens of British soldiers went to Kyiv to train the Ukrainian armed forces on using anti-tank systems that London had begun supplying. In May 2023, the UK transferred long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Kyiv. The Times reported that British military experts were secretly deployed to Ukraine to equip aircraft with these missiles and train Ukrainians on how to use them.

Visits by British military and political leaders to Ukraine were also frequent. According to The Times, the UK Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Tony Radakin, met with Volodymyr Zelensky around ten times and played a key role in bridging tensions between Kyiv and Washington. Meanwhile, Americans rarely traveled to Ukraine, fearing their presence could be perceived as over-involvement in the war. The paper added that some of the visits were so secret that the British arrived in civilian clothing.

The Times stated that London’s influence on Ukrainian military planning was so significant that one of the areas of Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive in the summer of 2023 was named after then Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.

Russia’s Ambassador to the UK, Andrey Kelin, said in an interview with TASS that “the UK is perhaps more deeply involved in the conflict in Ukraine than any other NATO member.” He pointed to the presence of British special forces, military medical trainers, and other units in Ukraine. “Launching Storm Shadow long-range missiles clearly requires expert involvement,” the ambassador said, “and it is obvious that only the British can fulfill that role because it is highly sophisticated technology and it is unimaginable that the Ukrainian military could operate it independently.”