This is a handful of people, soldiers of their state, who left for Ukraine with good will… But who could compromise London at the diplomatic level. A “very small number” of British soldiers who have left alone to fight in Ukraine are putting themselves in “huge problems,” UK Secretary of State for Defense James Hippie warned on SkyNews Thursday. And for good reason: their presence could lead Russia to mistakenly view Britain as belligerent.
These soldiers “are going to have a lot of problems,” warns James Hippie. “The desertion of British military personnel is illegal in the first place, but deserting to fight in a foreign war is simply not acceptable. (…) This is absolutely wrong,” he insists on the TV channel.
A British Army spokesman said the small contingent “disobeyed orders and disobeyed orders” and may have come to Ukraine “for personal purposes”. “We strongly recommend that they return to the UK,” he added.
Returning soldiers are considered deserters
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.
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.” In front of the Houses of Parliament Defense Minister Ben Wallace “very discouraged” the British go 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.