British troops will NOT be sent to Ukraine to fight in the short term, Rishi Sunak says
BRITISH troops will NOT be sent to Ukraine to train Zelensky's army or fight the Russians in the near future, Rishi Sunak confirmed today.
On the first day of Tory Party Conference in Manchester, the PM shut down speculation that British soldiers could enter the war torn region imminently.
It came as Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told The Sunday Telegraph that "eventually" he wants troops to train Ukrainian soldiers "in country" rather than the UK.
But speaking during a visit to a kids' club in Burnley, the PM hit back: "What the Defence Secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine.
"That's something for the long term, not the here and now, there are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.
"That's not what's happening. What we are doing is training Ukrainians. We're doing that here in the UK."
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Mr Shapps' comment prompted ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to warn of World War Three breaking out.
In a chilling message, the pal of Mad Vlad Putin said: "The number of leading idiots in NATO countries is growing.
"One newly minted cretin - the British Minister of Defence - decided to transfer English training courses for Ukrainian soldiers to the territory of Ukraine itself.
"These idiots are actively pushing us towards a Third World War."
More than 20,000 recruits from Ukraine have been trained in the UK since the start of 2022.
But Nato members have avoided training programmes in Ukraine because of the risk of soldiers being drawn into armed combat with the Russians.
Mr Shapps said he has spoken with Army chiefs about moving "more training" into Ukraine and called on British defence firms to set up shop in the country.
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Having taken over as Defence Secretary from Ben Wallace at the end of August, he said he has also spoken to Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, about the Royal Navy helping to defend commercial vessels in the Black Sea.
He said Britain is also looking for ways to help Ukraine get in shape for membership of Nato.