The heads of the defense ministries of the UK and Ukraine spoke about a number of crucial security matters, including the possibility of Kyiv joining NATO.
Ben Wallace, age 53, the British defense minister, unexpectedly visited Kyiv on May 24 in the morning to speak with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov, age 56, about crucial security matters.
The priority of arming Ukraine for upcoming successes was discussed by the defense ministers, with a focus on long-range weapons.
Long-range Storm Shadow missiles have been delivered to Ukraine. These are some of the first long-range missiles that Ukraine has received from its partners, according to Wallace. Because Russia frequently employs long-range weapons to destroy civil population and vital infrastructure, we provided this kind of armament.
The ministers also talked about the continuation of Ukrainian military training in the United Kingdom, Ukraine’s perspective on the impending NATO meeting in Vilnius, and President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace formula as the country’s approach to achieving peace in Europe.
Reznikov stated, “We got the chance to speak with pilots who learned in Britain and are already successfully deploying the Storm Shadow weapon”.
Wallace emphasized his happiness at being in Ukraine and interacting with the military in person. “I always enjoy visiting the capital, engaging not only with my counterpart, but also with the military, discussing their plans and ambitions, and finding ways I can be more involved in helping to implement these plans,” the man added.
Reznikov noted that the world has once again seen UK leadership and recognized the advantage it brings to the battlefield and praised Wallace’s team and Great Britain for their support since the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles. It was created in December 2001 after the merger of the main French, British and Italian missile systems companies: Matra, BAE Dynamics and Alenia. Previously, the MBDA constituents were the missile subsidiaries of
- France: Aérospatiale-Matra (merged into EADS, now called Airbus),
- UK: BAE Systems and
- Italy: Finmeccanica (now Leonardo).
