British weapons including anti-tank missiles arrive in Ukraine after Germany BLOCKED plane
British weapons, including anti-tank missiles, have arrived in Ukraine after the cargo plane was blocked from flying over German airspace.
Two RAF transporters flew much-needed missile systems to Kiev’s armed forces, and the troops aboard the planes will remain in Ukraine to teach their counterparts how to fight Russian tanks.
Footage shows the shipment being transported from a plane at an airport in Ukraine in an effort to counter the imminent threat of a Russian invasion, with 100,000 of their troops stationed at the border.
The weapons were dispatched on RAF C-17 aircraft that took a longer route over Danish rather than German airspace.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the broadcast came “in light of Russia’s increasingly threatening action.”
Germany has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons, with Chancellor Chancellor Olaf Scholz blocking Britain from flying over their airspace to deliver the cargo for fear of angering Vladimir Putin.
British weapons, including anti-tank missiles, arrived in Ukraine after cargo plane was blocked from flying over German airspace
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry confirms it has received a shipment of ‘anti-tank light weapons’ supplied by the UK
Scholz, who took over Angela Merkel’s job last month, has tried to maintain his predecessor’s warm relations with Moscow by refusing to supply Kiev with weapons and excluding sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if an attack continues.
He insisted on Monday that Germany has a long-standing policy of not exporting weapons even for defensive purposes, and has no intention of changing this.
That same day, Scholz also dodged a question from a reporter whether the Nord Stream 2 pipeline could be the target of sanctions if Russia attacks.
The weapons flown to Ukraine include shoulder-fired missiles, such as the AT4 84mm anti-armor system widely used by NATO members.
Two RAF transporters flew much-needed missile systems to Kiev’s armed forces, and the troops aboard the planes remain in Ukraine
The weapons were dispatched on RAF C-17 aircraft which traveled a longer route over Danish rather than German airspace
As the Bundestag continues to resist involvement, flight path tracking data shows British planes avoiding German airspace en route to transfer anti-armor weapons to Ukraine
The weapons flown to Ukraine include shoulder-fired missiles, such as the AT4 84mm anti-armor system widely used by NATO members
In eastern Ukraine – the region most likely to cause conflict between British-trained troops and Russian soldiers – the weapon can destroy advancing tanks and combat vehicles, helicopters and planes flying at low altitudes.
British defense chiefs fear Putin will opt for the ‘nightmare scenario’ of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine as tensions rise to a tipping point.
The White House warned yesterday that the situation was “extremely dangerous” and that Moscow could launch an attack “at any time”.
It was thought that Putin would choose the “easy option” of sending troops to the Donbass region of southeastern Ukraine and then negotiate to become an independent state, acting as a buffer between pro-western Ukraine and Russia.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the deployment came ‘in light of Russia’s increasingly threatening behavior’
Germany has refused to supply Ukraine with weapons, with Chancellor Chancellor Olaf Scholz blocking Britain from flying over their airspace
Scholz insisted on Monday that Germany has a long-standing policy of not exporting weapons, even for defensive purposes, and has no intention of changing this.
With the region already occupied by pro-Russian separatists and at war since 2014, it was thought there would be little resistance.
But the latest intelligence is now causing Department of Defense chiefs to worry about a much larger raid, raising fears of warfare engulfing cities and high civilian casualties.
They believe Putin’s forces will be positioned in line with his new objective, with armored divisions headed for neighboring Belarus during exercise but now stationed a short distance from Kiev.
Last night a senior defense source said: ‘We strongly believe’ [Putin’s] a full invasion rather than a limited offensive is preferred. In a way, he might as well go for as much Ukraine as he can get, because the penalties are the same.
Germany’s new chancellor Olaf Scholz has been accused of weakening NATO, the EU and his own country with soft stance on Russia even as Putin gears up to invade Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured at a Kremlin rally on Tuesday) has 100,000 troops and military equipment along the border with Ukraine, security analysts say
The British Ministry of Defense fears Putin will spark large-scale warfare that engulfs cities and inflicts high civilian casualties (Pictured: A convoy of Russian armored vehicles drives along a highway in Crimea, Tuesday, January 18, 2022)
The White House warned yesterday that the situation was “extremely dangerous” (Pictured: Anatoliy, a Ukrainian soldier with the 56th Brigade, in a frontline trench on January 18, 2022 in Pisky, Ukraine)
In addition, occupying only the eastern regions, he will never be able to recapture all of Ukraine because of the inevitable reinforcement of Ukrainian troops in the rest of the country in the aftermath.
“It’s the nightmare scenario.”
Putin is aware that since Ukraine does not belong to NATO, there will be no military response from Western states.
Likewise, the economic sanctions threatening the US and UK will apply regardless of the magnitude of such measures.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, before holding talks in Geneva on Friday with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the latest attempt to defuse the crisis.
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