Britain announced it will be the first country to ship Western-made tanks to Ukraine

Today, it was learned that during the telephone conversation held by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski, the British politician stressed “the commitment of the United Kingdom to intensify its support for Ukraine.” In this regard, Sunak announced that the United Kingdom will begin sending Challenger 2 tanks to the invaded territory, and will also be the first country to provide Western-made heavy vehicles so that it can face Russian attacks, according to an official statement from the British government. Anyway, so far the British Government did not detail the number of tanks it will send, or when, or how it will train the troops in the use and maintenance of the Challenger 2, a vehicle that began to be manufactured in the 90s and that was used in military confrontations with Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. Zelenskiy thanked the UK via Twitter, where he wrote that the British initiatives “will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners.” Since the conflict broke out on February 24, 2022, Kiev’s European allies have already delivered nearly 300 modernized Soviet tanks, but never Western-made heavy tanks, despite repeated requests from Ukraine.The prime minister’s announcement comes in a context in which three days ago, Poland assured that it was able to deliver 14 Leopard 2 heavy tanks, A German tank model considered one of the most effective in the world. In turn, the previous week, France, Germany and the United States offered to send armored vehicles to transport infantry and reconnaissance tanks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded that “any shipment of weapons to Kiev will become a legitimate target” for his country’s troops. And Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that any arms supply to Ukraine would have a negative impact on the conflict.

Original source in Spanish