UK Defense Secretary says giving Ukraine British tanks 'wouldn't work' as training needed

Providing Ukraine with British tanks "wouldn't work," UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in an interview with The Mail on Sunday newspaper, adding that the focus should be on repairing Russian and Soviet equipment, which demands less training for Ukrainian military.

"One of the biggest challenges is that the more you go up in sophistication of weapons systems, the more training you require to use them, which is why the real focus of effort has to be helping the Ukrainians either refurbish or locate Russian or Soviet equipment that is already in their inventory. Just providing British tanks wouldn't really work," Wallace said .

Britain's Starstreak man-portable air defense systems are ready to be deployed in Ukraine, and Ukrainian troops have already been trained to use them, Wallace added.

According to the defense minister, the United Kingdom is "doing more than pretty much anyone else" to help Ukraine.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. In response to Russia's operation, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Moscow. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )