The British government said on Wednesday that it is considering requests for
further military support to Ukraine on top of the deployment of 75 military
advisers, but ruled out sending combat troops as it sought to dispel concerns it
could get dragged into the conflict.
Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Tuesday night that Britain will be
sending military advisers and training teams to provide "non-lethal support" to
Ukraine's armed forces, which is fighting against pro-Russia separatists in the
east of the country.
The military personnel will be sent to Ukraine in a few weeks and will
provide medical, logistical, infantry and intelligence training to its forces.
The advisers will not be deployed to the eastern conflict zone, and it has been
emphasized
that the deployment of trainers is not a first step towards a combat role.
In a statement
delivered by Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, the prime minister said: "In
light of Russian-backed aggression, the UK is committed to providing additional
non-lethal support to Ukraine to help them deal with the pressures they are
facing."
Speaking in the UK parliament on Wednesday, Fallon said: "This is not a Nato
deployment, this is a decision of the UK government," though he added that Nato
allies had been consulted.
A number of parliamentarians (MPs) raised concerns over the possibility of
mission creep. Sir Edward Leigh, of Cameron's Conservative Party, said: "The trouble with sending advisers, as the Americans
found in Vietnam, and many other nations have found since, [is that] mission
creep results in eventually combat troops being sent."
Over the last year, Britain has also provided personal protective clothing
equipment, winter fuel, medical kits, winter clothing and sleeping bags to the
Ukrainian Armed Forces, at a cost of £1.2 million [$1.9m]. Recently, it was announced
that the UK will provide reconstructive surgical treatment for up to five
Ukrainian soldiers who sustained severe injuries fighting in east Ukraine.
The move follows America's lead, where earlier this month, US Army Europe
Commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges said that a battalion of soldiers will be sent to the country
to train three Ukrainian units. The US has so far sent first aid kits and hand
held radios, as well as lightweight
counter mortar radars to track incoming mortar rounds to Ukraine. Washington
is currently considering
whether to provide lethal arms to Ukraine's forces.
Earlier this month, peace negotiations between Russian President Vladimir
Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande
and German Chancellor Angela Merkel resulted in a ceasefire, which was to come
into effect on February 15. Conditions attached to the ceasefire included the
withdrawal of heavy weapons from both sides and creating buffer zones, as well
as the withdrawal of all foreign armed groups and weapons from the Ukrainian
territory under the monitoring of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE).
Yet fighting has continued, and earlier this week, foreign ministers of
Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany met in Paris to discuss the progress of the
peace deal. On Tuesday, Reuters
reported that pro-Russia separatists had brought reporters to witness their
withdrawal from the frontline in east Ukraine, yet their claims of withdrawal
were described as "empty words" by the Ukrainian government.
Lavrov called for the OSCE to observe the withdrawal.
"A lot now depends on an honest, objective, unbiased approach by the
observers who must record what is happening on the ground, so that we can all
resist the attempts to present the Minsk agreements as having already failed,"
he said. "There are many people outside Ukraine and in Kiev who want them
derailed."
However, the secretary general of the OSCE, Lamberto Zannier, has recently asked
for more drones in order to access places which are off-limits to his teams.
"We have still, as of today, difficulties in having access, especially in the
separatist areas," Zannier said.
"My feeling is Russia could do more."
Media reports
indicate that the death toll of the Ukraine crisis is now more than 5,000.
Cameron's announcement, alongside America's supply of military trainers, may
have repercussions for the peace deal. Speaking to VICE News, Keir Giles, an
associate fellow of the International Security department and the Russia and
Eurasia program at UK think tank Chatham House, said: "In the ceasefire
agreement, it says that all foreign forces have to be withdrawn from the
territory of Ukraine."
He continued: "However, if we have a situation where official, formed units
of British and much larger American troops are in the Ukraine to help train
Ukrainian units, you have a situation where Russia can say that it was a breach
of the ceasefire agreement by Ukraine, which they can use as a pretext for any
one of a number of hostile actions."
Follow Jenna Corderoy on Twitter: @JennaCorderoy
https://news.vice.com/article/uk-deployment-of-75-military-advisers-to-ukraine-raises-concerns-over-mission-creep
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