MOSCOW, May 24 British Defense Minister Ben Wallace visited Kiev on an unannounced visit, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
«Aleksey Reznikov and Ben Wallace discussed the issues of continuing the training of the Ukrainian military in the UK,» the ministry's website said in a statement.
During a meeting with the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Wallace said that he feels satisfied every time he visits Kyiv and communicates with the Ukrainian military. In turn, Reznikov said that the ministers met with pilots who were trained in the UK and are already using Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles.
On May 11, Great Britain announced that it was transferring Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine (the effective range 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. Since then, Kyiv has fired these missiles at Lugansk several times.
Earlier, Russia sent a note to NATO countries because of 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. The Kremlin stated 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 also stated that the US 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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