A ‘very small number’ of British soldiers leaving alone to fight in Ukraine exposes themselves to ‘enormous problems’ and this could push Russia to misidentify Britain as a belligerent, Britain’s Secretary of State for Defense warned on Thursday 10 March James Hippie. .
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James Hippie confirmed to SkyNews that “a very small number of soldiers” left after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “They will have a lot of problems,” he warned. “It is illegal for British military personnel to desert in the first place, but deserting to fight in someone else’s war is simply unacceptable and, quite frankly, risks erroneously branding the UK as a belligerent by Russia.” “This is absolutely wrong,” he insisted on the TV channel. A British Army spokesman said a small number of soldiers “disobeyed orders and did not respond” and may have gone to Ukraine “for personal purposes”, adding: “We strongly advise them to return to the UK.”
Prosecuted for desertion
Among the four British soldiers suspected of leaving for Ukraine is a member of the Coldstream Guards, the regiment responsible for guarding the Queen at Windsor Castle, according to The Sun tabloid. The son of a British MP, Ben Grant, a former soldier, also claimed to be among seven former British soldiers who left to fight against Russian forces in Ukraine, despite warnings from the British government. “I decided to do it,” “I didn’t even tell my mother,” the 30-year-old, who spent more than five years in the Royal Marines commando, told The Guardian. The newspaper met him this weekend at a train station in Lvov, western Ukraine, waiting for a train to the capital Kyiv.
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After British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss appeared to back off on such moves in late February, she revisited her remarks on Wednesday, saying she expressed “support for the Ukrainian cause.” Before Parliament, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace “strongly dissuaded” the British from going to Ukraine to fight. He stressed that any active duty member who did so would “break the law” and be prosecuted upon return for desertion.