MOSCOW, May 18 answering questions about whether London granted Kiev permission to use British-supplied missiles, including the Storm Shadow, to strike at Crimea, and whether the government required the use of these missiles exclusively within Ukraine.
«I have had numerous discussions with my Ukrainian counterpart and other members of their government. We are discussing a range of topics related to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine,» Wallace gave the same written response to two related questions from MP Kenny MacAskill of the Scottish Alba Party.
The minister's responses were published on Thursday on the website of the British Parliament.
Furthermore, Wallace avoided answering MacAskill's question about whether the British Defense Department had conducted due diligence on all Ukrainian soldiers who received military training and instruction from British instructors.
«Great Britain has trained over 15,000 recruits from Ukraine to help the country repel Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine,» the minister replied.
Wallace gave the same answer to the question of whether, since February 2022, Britain has trained Ukrainians who were released early from prison to participate in the conflict with Russia.
On May 11, the United Kingdom announced that it was transferring Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine (the range of destruction of the export modification is about 250 kilometers). At the same time, according to CNN, London received assurances from Kyiv that they would be used only for targets in territories that Ukraine considers its own, and not for «mainland» Russia. Since then, Kyiv has fired these missiles at Lugansk several times. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that this would require an adequate response. The transfer of long-range Storm Shadow missiles by London to Kyiv leads to a serious escalation of the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted.
Earlier, Russia sent a note to NATO countries over arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect. Lavrov stated that the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, «including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel … on the territory of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and other countries.»
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