Deploying foreign soldiers in Ukraine will provide targets for Russia, he says (Document)
London:
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Saturday that he opposed sending Western troops to Ukraine, even on a training mission.
Cameron said training missions are best conducted abroad, noting that Britain has already trained 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers in this way.
Deploying foreign soldiers in Ukraine would provide targets for Russia, he said.
On February 26, French President Macron did not rule out sending Western troops to Ukraine to help Ukraine resist Russia’s invasion, which caused an uproar among allies.
Britain later confirmed it had sent a small force to Ukraine to help with medical training, but Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said Britain did not expect a large-scale deployment.
On Friday, French Defense Minister Sebastien Le Cornou said there were no current plans to send combat troops, but Ukraine’s allies could consider specific training or demining missions.
In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Cameron said that Ukraine needs more long-range weapons and that he is willing to cooperate with Berlin to lift Ukraine’s silence on the supply of German-made Taurus cruise missiles.
Cameron would not respond directly to suggestions that Berlin would provide Britain with Taurus missiles to free up time to launch more Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Ukraine.
Berlin has refused to supply Taurus missiles to Ukraine, fearing its 500-kilometer (310-mile) range would be used to strike targets deep into Russian territory.
Since May last year, France and Britain have supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles – known as “Scalp” in French, which have a range of 250 kilometers, while the United States has sent ATACMS, which has a range of 165 kilometers.
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