Britain has been among Kiev’s principal backers, providing armor and controversial depleted uranium shells
The British military destroyed dozens of Challenger 2 tanks that could have been sent to Ukraine to help it fight Russia, the Times has reported.
A total of 43 main battle tanks were scrapped by the UK ministry of defense between 2010 and 2014, the paper revealed on Sunday, citing a freedom of information disclosure.
The disposal cost £4.3 million (around $5.5 million), and needed to be made because the Challenges 2 tanks were in a condition “beyond any economic repair,” the documents read.
The decision was made before Crimea voted to rejoin Russia and relations between Moscow and the West began to deteriorate rapidly. However, the outlet emphasized that the British military has generally underestimated the importance of tanks on the modern battlefield.
The defense ministry procured 386 Challenger 2s in the mid-1990s, but the number was cut by 40% as part of the 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review. Britain now plans to reduce its tank fleet to 148, while upgrading to the new Challenger 3 version, the paper reported.
Another 75 Challengers have been put into long-term storage, which was criticized by the chairman of the defense select committee, Tobias Ellwood. According to the Times, he argued that those tanks should have been sent to Ukraine instead.
So far London has provided Kiev with 14 Challenger 2 tanks. However, there have been no reports of Ukraine using them, despite actively deploying German-made Leopard 2s and American Bradley fighting vehicles, several dozen of which have already been lost.
The US and its allies beefed up Ukrainian forces with tanks, APCs, and other hardware in advance of a much-hyped counteroffensive, which started in early June. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged several times that the Western armor “will burn” on the battlefield. Moscow says Kiev’s assaults have not produced significant gains to date.
In March, Putin said that Russia planned to produce or modernize some 1,600 tanks over the next three years.
The Times also quoted the assistant chief of the general staff, Maj. Gen. Charles Collins, who said in March that due to the drawdown of its military, Britain should have the “strategic humility” to accept that it cannot fight a major war on its own anymore.
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Russia has long condemned the supply of American, British, and other foreign weapons to Ukraine, arguing that it will only prolong the fighting, without preventing Moscow from achieving its military goals. According to the Kremlin, the assistance provided to Kiev by the US, the EU, and other Western nations makes them de facto parties to the conflict.
