Visit of UK Defence Minister to Ukraine
UK Minister of the Armed Forces is today visiting Ukraine, meeting the UK and Ukrainian troops training together as part of Op Orbital.
UK Minister of the Armed Forces Mark Lancaster is today visiting Ukraine, meeting the UK and Ukrainian troops training together as part of Operation Orbital.
The Minister’s visit follows the announcement that the UK is expanding its training of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, introducing additional courses aimed at countering attacks from snipers, armoured vehicles and mortars.
British personnel have been in the country since 2015 on Operation Orbital, and will be there until at least early 2018. Since being in the country, UK troops have directly trained over 5,000 members of Ukraine’s Armed Forces in defensive skills, 1,000 more than initially targeted.
Minister of the Armed Forces Mark Lancaster said:
The UK is stepping up on the global stage and nowhere can this be seen more clearly than though our commitments in Europe. With UK personnel in Estonia, Ukraine and Poland we have 1,000 personnel in the region. We are standing up and standing with our allies, fully committed to European security.
Part of a three country trip to Eastern Europe, the Minister is also visiting Poland and Estonia this week, meeting some of the 1,000 troops currently deployed in the region. In Estonia, he met with the 5 Rifles EFP Battlegroup and saw RAF Typhoon jets, visiting the country to train with UK personnel on the ground and Estonian allies for the first time.
He also met with the Light Dragoons who have been based in Orzysz, Poland since April this year. The approximately 150-strong unit, equipped with Jackal and Coyote light reconnaissance vehicles, have been in the country as part of the US-led Enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup the country.