Navy and RAF ‘not pulling weight’ on Ukraine

THE British Army is concerned that the RAF and Royal Navy are not pulling their weight in providing support for Ukraine.

Rishi Sunak confirmed earlier this month that the UK would send a squadron of 14 British Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and that the British Army would teach Ukrainian troops how to operate the vehicles.

But The Daily Telegraph understands the Army feels that the latest gift of tanks is another example of the force having taken on the “lion’s share” of equipping Ukraine.

It is felt among senior defence sources that the other forces within the British Military should help to “shoulder the burden”.

They told The Telegraph: “If we are serious about ensuring Ukraine wins, then we should follow through.”

It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, called on Western nations to follow the tanks promised by European nations and the US with fighter jets to help his forces defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

However, while one senior RAF source stressed “never say never” over the possibility of sending jets, they cautioned “it’s not the priority now”.

They added that such a scenario might come when “Russia is kicked out of Ukraine and there is a need for the Ukrainians to conduct an air policing mission to protect their airspace”.

Another senior defence source defended the lack of RAF and Navy

support because “tanks are how you break through lines”.

“The challenge we get in air and maritime is two fold,” they added. “Our kit is much more complex to use and takes longer to train on. This is very different to training infantry on tanks.”

Since July, British sailors have been teaching Ukrainians how to operate Sandown-class minehunters. Although they have been given two of the subs, one source pointed to the fact that Turkey may deny them access to Ukraine through the Bosphorus Strait.

“In the maritime the problem we’ve got is we can’t even get the kit into the Black Sea,” they added.

The source insisted the RAF and Navy “are supporting the Ukrainian navy and airforce but we are trying to keep just enough space”.

However, the army source also pointed to the recent public sector industrial action in which Armed Forces personnel covered for striking NHS, firefighters and Border Force staff as an example of the Government’s over-reliance on the Army.

Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, the Chief of the General Staff, recently warned that the UK’S donation of tanks to Ukraine will leave the British Army, which is to be cut by 10,000 troops, “temporarily weaker” and leave a “gap in our armoury”.

In a video posted on the Ministry of Defence’s intranet, Sir Patrick acknowledged that while Ukraine needed the supplies it was “vital that we restore and enhance the Army’s warfighting capability at pace to reinforce our combat credibility”.

Ahead of the Government’s Integrated Review of defence, foreign and security policy refresh, which is about to be published, Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, cautioned that morale among the Army was already “grim”.

“The last Integrated Review focused heavily on maritime and air power… with sweeping cuts to our land forces and equipment,” he said.

“Yet the burden of duties during Covid, public sector strikes and now support for Ukraine, including bolstering Nato support, falls on the Army’s shoulders.”

Mr Ellwood added that as the UK gives Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, “there is a growing realisation that the miserable state of our own land forces may not be properly addressed”.