UK sends 350 soldiers to Poland to ‘stand firm’ with Ukraine, says defence secretary
The UK is set to send 350 soldiers to bolster security on the Polish border, as prime minister Boris Johnson prepares to deploy RAF Typhoons and warships to eastern Europe.
“Poland is one of our oldest allies,” defence secretary Ben Wallace said today. “As strong partners in NATO and Europe we will both stand firm on protecting the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine and Nato’s open door policy.”
While meeting his Polish counterpart Mariusz Błaszczak in London on Monday, Wallace discussed concerns over European security and the need for “sustained dialogue” with the Russian government to “promote stability and the de-escalation of Russian military forces on the border of Ukraine”.
The defence secretary is expected to travel to meet his Russian counterpart in Moscow later this week.
Writing in The Times last night, Johnson said Britain will not “flinch” and that its support to Europe and Nato will remain “unconditional and immovable”.
Plans have been drawn up to send jets to neighbouring countries such as Romania and Bulgaria.
It follows Russia sending 30,000 troops to Belarus, its eastern European ally, for joint military exercises that with run for 10 days from February 10.
In what Nato has described as Russia largest military deployment to Belarus since the end of the cold war, Western experts fear the build-up of troops will be used to invade after years of tensions.
Johnson has also cautioned that the “military machine” being assembled on the Ukrainian border “dwarfs” the size of the force that seized Crimea.
“If he launches another invasion, he will force the West to bring about much of what he seeks to prevent,” the prime minister added, arguing an invasion would only strengthen Nato, which Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping warned against on Friday.
In a joint declaration, Xi and Putin wrote: “The sides oppose further enlargement of Nato and call on the North Atlantic Alliance to abandon its ideologies Cold War approach.”