cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/9906910

Grant Shapps to send UK troops to Ukraine Army will train Zelensky’s military on the ground and Navy may move into Black Sea

By Edward Malnick, SUNDAY POLITICAL EDITOR 30 September 2023

British troops will be deployed in Ukraine for the first time under plans being discussed with military chiefs, the new Defence Secretary has disclosed…

  • Syldon
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    1 year ago

    They want a war to win the election.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPA
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      1 year ago

      Worse, they start one just to dump it in Labour’s lap with a parting “ta-ra, suckers!”

      They seem to be creating as big a mess as possible before they get booted out next year, so Labour will have to spend their first term cleaning up the mess while the Tory press blame them for it.

  • Chaotic Entropy
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    1 year ago

    “Particularly in the west of the country, I think the opportunity now is to bring more things ‘in country’, and not just training but also we’re seeing BAE [the UK defence firm], for example, move into manufacturing in country, for example.

    “I’m keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing. So I think there will be a move to get more training and production in the country.”

    Sooo… Britain wants its defence contractors to get in on the ground floor, basically. We needed more exportable products to bolster the economy and so we’re going to sell some more war and its associated service industries.

    Everyone is trying to keep their hands clean and support abstract enough to avoid open war, but that stops them profiting as much as they could. Britain is going all in.

    • tal@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Rheinmetall recently announced that they were starting up a facility in Ukraine.

      https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/10/business/rheinmetall-german-tank-factory-ukraine/index.html

      Rheinmetall will open an armored vehicle plant in Ukraine within the next 12 weeks, shrugging off concerns other Western defense companies reportedly have about building a presence in the country while it is at war with Russia.

      I am guessing that the factor is more that Ukraine’s considered to have a decent-enough air-defense situation now that it’s reasonable to start operating factories without worrying about them getting hit with missiles or something.

  • MrNesser@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Even though this is an extension of the training it does make me uneasy.

    Even the USA has shied away from having official troops or support personnel on the ground

    • Syldon
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      1 year ago

      It abject stupidity. There is no benefit for them being in Ukraine. They can train them in the UK. This is putting a target on the backs of servicemen in a points scoring exercise. It just shows how little these scum think regarding the well being of people who serve the UK.

      • jonne@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, NATO countries are right on the border, training in Poland would work fine.

    • mannycalavera
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      1 year ago

      If the US (and other NATO allies but especially the US) disagree with this I’m imagining they wouldn’t have let it happen. The US isn’t shy of calling out the UK they’ve done that plenty of times in this Biden administration. If the UK (or any othe NATO ally) are now operating closer or inside Ukraine the US would have to have signed off on this and are comfortable with it.

      If not we’ll see a pretty rapid retraction of these plans and a public admonishment from Biden.