British tanks in Ukraine ‘will burn’

GBNEWS24DESK//

The Kremlin said yesterday that tanks Britain plans to send to Ukraine “will burn”, warning the West that supplying a new round of more advanced weapons to Ukraine would not change the outcome of the war.

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24, the United States and its allies have given tens of billions of dollars’ worth of weaponry including rocket systems, drones, armoured vehicles and communications systems.

Britain said on Saturday it would send 14 of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks as well as other advanced artillery support in the coming weeks.

“They are using this country [Ukraine] as a tool to achieve their anti-Russian goals,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the British tanks.

“These tanks are burning and will burn just like the rest,” Peskov said.

Peskov said the new supplies from countries like Britain and Poland would not change the situation on the ground, but were an attempt to draw out the conflict which he said would ultimately bring “more troubles” on Ukraine, reports Reuters.

He also said Russia denied responsibility for a weekend strike on an apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro that left at least 40 people dead.

The rising cost of the strike came as Russia and its close ally Belarus announced the beginning of new joint military drills, reports AFP.

Belarus, which has been a key ally to Russia throughout the conflict, allowed Moscow’s forces to launch their invasion from Belarusian territory last February.

Its defence ministry said the air force exercises would involve joint “tactical” flights and that every airfield in Belarus would be involved.

“The exercise is purely defensive in nature,” Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of Belarus’s Security Council, said in remarks carried Sunday by the defence ministry.

The Institute for the Study of War, based in the United States, said in an analytical note yesterday that the risk of a new offensive from Belarus was “low” and “the risk of Belarusian direct involvement was very low”.