That’s why the British are arming the Ukrainians

class=”sc-29f61514-0 kHgAwW”>

While the US hesitates, Britain has pledged more arms supplies to the Ukrainians. These are anti-aircraft missiles and hundreds of combat drones. The drones have a range of more than 200 kilometers and could therefore also reach targets in Russia or on the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula. A few days earlier, the British had promised Storm Shadow cruise missiles with a longer range of about 300 kilometers.

The US had always avoided supplying long-range missiles. Reason: They are afraid of a further escalation of the war.

Zelensky in London

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (45) is currently on tour in Europe. After visits to Rome, Berlin and Basel, he met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (43) on Monday.

Britain has supported Ukraine for years and was one of the first countries to supply arms to Kiev after the Russian invasion. Then Prime Minister Boris Johnson (58) was also the first foreign head of government to address the Ukrainian parliament.

Close relationship

These are the reasons for the close friendship:

• Britain is a protecting power of Ukraine. When the governments of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus handed over their nuclear weapons to the Russians after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, they gained the security, sovereignty and independence of three powers: Russia, the US and Great Britain.

• Britain remembers its own past during the war in Ukraine. The British also fought for their freedom when they were attacked by the Nazi Germans during World War II.

• The British government has been at odds with Moscow for years. Background are the poison attacks on critics of the Kremlin in England. The murder of Alexander Litvinenko († 44) in 2006 led to the first diplomatic crisis. After the attack on Sergei Skripal (71) in 2018, London explicitly described Russia as a threat to British security.

• The dispute between London and Moscow escalated further with the Russo-Georgian war in 2008. The British government accused Moscow of wanting to unilaterally shift national borders. She supported Ukraine’s entry into NATO and decided on a “strategic partnership” to advise and train the Ukrainian armed forces.

• But Boris Johnson also used his Ukraine policies to distract from his own scandals. He is accused of having illegal parties celebrated during the Corona period.

Source: Blick