Britain promises Ukraine more Brimstone missiles, training

LONDON — Britain will supply another batch of multirole missiles and provide training for thousands of Ukrainian troops, the U.K. defense secretary announced this week.

Britain is shipping 200 MBDA-built Brimstone missiles to Ukraine, Grant Shapps said in a speech to Parliament to mark the upcoming second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Britain has already supplied large numbers of Brimstones to Ukraine. Shapps told lawmakers the “missiles have previously had significant impact on the battlefield, in one instance forcing Russian forces to abandon and retreat from an attempted crossing of a river.”

The supply, along with a recent pledge from the British government to spend £200 million (U.S. $253 million) this year supplying drones to Kyiv, comes at a critical time for Ukraine. The country is finding Western military aid far harder to come by.

Shapps said the time is now or never to equip Kyiv with the weapons it needs.

“This year will be make or break for Ukraine. So it’s time for the West — and all civilized nations — to step up and give Ukraine the backing it needs,” he told parliamentary members.

Aside from the delivery of more Brimstones, Shapps said Britain and its allies are to train 10,000 Ukrainian troops in the U.K. over the first half of this year to add to the 60,000 that have already undergone training.

Nearly a dozen nations, including Australia, Canada, Finland and Romania, have provided troops to train Ukrainian military personnel in the U.K.

Shapps said the list of nations involved in the training effort has now expanded to include Estonia and Kosovo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.

伦敦——英国国防大臣本周宣布，英国将向乌克兰提供另一批多用途导弹，并为数千名乌克兰士兵提供培训。

英国将向乌克兰运送200枚MBDA制造的“硫磺石”导弹。格兰特·沙普斯在向议会发表的讲话中表示，此次讲话是为了纪念俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰两周年。

英国已经向乌克兰提供了大量的“硫磺石”导弹。沙普斯告诉议员们，“这些导弹此前已在战场上产生了重大影响，例如，有一次迫使俄军放弃并撤退了试图渡河的行动。”

这批物资的到来，加上英国政府近期承诺今年向基辅提供价值2亿英镑（约合2.53亿美元）的无人机，对乌克兰来说可谓雪中送炭。该国正面临着西方军事援助日益紧缺的困境。

沙普斯表示，现在是为基辅配备所需武器的时候了，否则就永远没有机会了。

“今年对乌克兰来说将是成败攸关的一年。因此，现在是西方——以及所有文明国家——站出来，给予乌克兰所需支​​持的时候了，”他告诉议员们。

除了交付更多“硫磺石”导弹外，沙普斯表示，英国及其盟友将在今年上半年在英国训练 1 万名乌克兰士兵，加上此前已接受训练的 6 万名乌克兰士兵。

包括澳大利亚、加拿大、芬兰和罗马尼亚在内的近十几个国家已向英国派遣军队，用于训练乌克兰军事人员。

沙普斯表示，参与此次培训工作的国家名单现已扩大到包括爱沙尼亚和科索沃。

美联社对本报道亦有贡献。

Andrew Chuter 是《防务新闻》的英国记者。