British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday that the tanks London had promised to transfer to Ukraine would be delivered before the start of the summer, without giving a specific date.
Recall that last week the UK announced that, according to its calculations, the tanks should arrive in Ukraine by the end of March.
Asked in parliament when the 14 Challenger 2 tanks the UK has agreed to supply Kiev will be delivered to the front, Wallace said “it will be closer to summer or in May – maybe earlier near Easter”.
According to him, for security reasons, he cannot provide a timetable for the training of Ukrainian troops in the use of tanks, but the personnel will first be trained in driving the vehicles, and then they will prepare for combat.
Meanwhile, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile attack in a phone call ahead of an invasion of Ukraine.
Johnson, speaking on the BBC, said the Russian leader had asked him about the prospects of Ukraine joining NATO, to which Johnson replied that it would not happen “in a foreseeable future”.
“At one point he threatened me saying, ‘Boris, I don’t want to upset you, but the rocket ship (will fix this) in a minute’ or something. Funny,” Johnson said, recalling a “very long” and “very unusual” conversation in February 2022 which followed the visit of the then British Prime Minister to Kiev. “But I think that judging by his very relaxed tone and the detachment with which I thought he said that, he was just toying with my attempts to persuade him to negotiate.”
