Germany talks about Britain's support for Ukraine “on the ground”: reactions oscillate between excitement and demonstrative calm. Actual information about British activity is scarce.
“It's a very long-range weapon. And what the British and French are doing in terms of target selection and objective tracking cannot be done in Germany. Everyone who has dealt with this system knows that.” Did Chancellor Olaf Scholz admit two things with this statement of 26 February – on the one hand, indirectly, that target control must be carried out locally, i.e. from Ukrainian soil, and on the other hand, that Great Britain -Britain and France are taking corresponding action Action?
In any case, the excitement in parts of the press initially caused a sensation. Last weekend added Air Force Inspector Ingo Gerhartz's statement at the intercepted meeting of senior Bundeswehr officers: “When we are asked about delivery methods (for cruise missiles, editor's note), I know how the British do that. They always transport them in Ridgeback armored vehicles. They have several people on the ground.
Outrage over data leak
Although the federal government regretfully admitted the authenticity of a recording of an inadequately encrypted Webex conversation and attempted to downplay the publication as a Russian attempt to divide NATO allies, reactions in Britain were mixed.
On the one hand, former senior defense experts in particular were outraged. Former army chief Richard Dannatt complained that no one commented on the presence of British military personnel in Ukraine. The Times quoted former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace as saying: “We know that Germany is heavily penetrated by Russian intelligence. This shows that it is neither safe nor trustworthy.” Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood told BBC Radio 4 that Scholz appears to be increasingly focused on his political survival rather than what is best for Europe – there must now be “serious discussions” between Germany, Britain and the BORN. In comments made by the British media, political journalists were also particularly excited about the fact that Germany could not be trusted due to its indiscretion.
The British government, however, reacted cautiously: it was up to Germany to investigate this matter, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman explained on Monday – and only demonstratively addressed the data leak, because British activity in Ukraine had already had been discussed last week.
A “small number of forces”
In fact, Sunak's spokesman had already said publicly on 27 February: “We have no plans for a large-scale military operation in relation to the small number of forces we have in the country to support the Ukrainian armed forces” – he said. to the French President. Emmanuel Macron's fables about sending ground troops to Ukraine are reacting.
Little is publicly known about what this “small number of forces” means. The “Guardian” reported in April 2023 on documents published by the US military that show the deployment of up to 50 special forces from Britain to Ukraine. At that time, the British Ministry of Defense did not comment on the files published on Discord and simply pointed out that they contained a fair amount of inaccuracies – in general, one should not take literally all accusations that disinformation could be behind them.
Protecting the British Embassy
In December 2022 – the year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine – British Marine Lieutenant General Robert Magowan said that British marines had been to Ukraine twice in the year in question: first in January to bring personnel from the Kiev embassy and later in April to protect diplomats and their staff upon their return.
This is consistent with a Conservative MP's statement from April 2023, which can be seen on the British Parliament website: British forces are on site in Ukraine to support the British diplomatic mission in the country and to train the Ukrainian armed forces.
In a Parliament communication on military support for Ukraine published in July 2023, under the title “Personnel Deployment”, it is also stated that the “Defence Section” of the British Embassy in Kiev had already been reopened in April 2022 – according to the text, this also includes security forces to ensure the security of the Defense Section, rather than burdening the host country, Ukraine, with it.
Orbital training mission continues
The parliament's statement goes on to say: “We continue our long-standing operation 'Orbital'”, which was launched in 2015 following Russia's annexation of Crimea to train the Ukrainian armed forces and which has reportedly completed 22,000 operations. soldiers. He continues: “It now also includes military medical personnel who train and support Ukrainian medical forces. For operational reasons that are well known to Parliament, no information is provided on the number or location of forces deployed.
So far there have been no public statements about how the British are collaborating with the Ukrainian armed forces regarding the use of “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles. The decision to hand them over to Ukraine was made on May 11. On July 6, the Russian state agency Tass reported that parts of a “Storm Shadow” cruise missile launched over Zaporizhzhia were being taken to Moscow for examination; A few days later, Russia accused Ukraine of using a “Storm Shadow” attack to attack a hotel in Berdyansk and kill a general. Less than two months passed between the delivery announcement and the first documented use of “Storm Shadow”.
It is unclear whether the Ukrainian armed forces had already learned to use the “Storm Shadow” during military training carried out in Britain before the government's official decision, whether they learned to use the weapon within a few weeks in Ukraine, or whether the armed forces British troops were on the ground playing an active role – the latter, in particular, raises the delicate question of whether and to what extent a NATO member state is involved in active combat operations. This is also Scholz's main argument against a “Taurus” delivery from Germany, which he reiterated on Monday: “I am the Chancellor, and that is why this applies.”
Another delivery order for Scholz
Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is currently trying to ensure that Germany's reliability in the military alliance remains valid: he spoke on the phone with his allied counterparts on Monday and “didn't notice any sign that we don't trust us, and I didn't feel any irritation either”, he emphasized. The trust in Germany is unbreakable.
Even if comments from British experts raise doubts about this, London at least publicly refrains from accusing Germany of betraying secrets against a NATO ally. Instead, Sunak's spokesman turned demonstratively to the issue of trust – and took the opportunity to once again call on the Chancellor to reconsider his “Taurus” decision: they would continue to work with Germany to support Ukraine. “The UK was the first country to supply long-range precision missiles to Ukraine. We would encourage our allies to do the same.”