Army concerned RAF and Navy are not supporting Ukraine enough

The British Army is concerned that the RAF and Royal Navy are not pulling their weight in providing support for Ukraine.

Rishi Sunak confirmed earlier this month that the UK would send a squadron of 14 British Challenger II tanks to Ukraine and that the British Army would teach Ukrainian troops how to operate the vehicles.

But The Telegraph understands the Army feels that the latest gift of tanks is another example of the force having taken on the “lion’s share” of equipping Ukraine.

It is felt among senior defence sources that the other forces within the British Military should help to “shoulder the burden”.

They told The Telegraph: “If we are serious about ensuring Ukraine wins, then we should follow through.”

Sending jets 'not the priority now'

It comes as Volodymr Zelensky has called for Western nations to follow the tanks that have now been promised by European nations and the US with fighter jets to help his forces defend Ukraine against Russia.

However, while one senior RAF source stressed “never say never” over the possibility of sending jets, they cautioned “it’s not the priority now”.

They added that such a scenario might come when “Russia is kicked out of Ukraine and there is a need for the Ukranians to conduct an air policing mission to protect their airspace”.

Another senior defence source defended the lack of RAF and Navy support because “tanks are how you break through lines”.

“The challenge we get in air and maritime is two fold,” they added. “Our kit is much more complex to use and takes longer to train on. This is very different to training infantry on tanks.”

Since July, British sailors have been teaching Ukrainians how to operate Sandown-class minehunters. Although they have been gifted two of the vessels, one source pointed to the fact that Turkey may deny them access to Ukraine through the Bosphorus Strait.

“In the maritime the problem we’ve got is we can’t even get the kit into the Black Sea,” they added.

The source insisted the RAF and Navy “are supporting the Ukrainian navy and airforce but we are trying to keep just enough space”.

'Vital Army warfighting capability is restored'

The army source however also pointed to the recent strikes which saw mainly soldiers drawn from Armed Forces personnel covering for striking NHS, firefighters and Border Force workers as an example of an over reliance by the Government on the Army.

It comes after General Sir Patrick Sanders, the Chief of the General Staff, recently warned that the UK’s donation of tanks to Ukraine will leave the British Army, which is set to be slashed by 10,000 troops, “temporarily weaker” and leave a “gap in our armoury”.

In a video posted on the Ministry of Defence’s intranet, Sir Patrick acknowledged that whilst Ukraine needed the supplies it was “vital that we restore and enhance the Army’s warfighting capability at pace to reinforce our combat credibility”.

Ahead of the Government’s integrated review of defence, foreign and security policy refresh, which is due to be published imminently, Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, cautioned that morale among the Army was already “grim”.

“The last Integrated Review focused heavily on maritime and air power, including Carriers and F35 jets, with sweeping cuts to our land forces and equipment,” he said.

“Yet the burden of duties during Covid, public sector strikes and now support for Ukraine, including bolstering NATO support, falls on the Army’s shoulders.”

'Inadequately equipped'

Mr Ellwood added that as the UK sends Challenger II tanks to Ukraine, “there is a growing realisation that the miserable state of our own land forces may not be properly addressed”.

“Cutting tank numbers down to just 148 does not leave us with any serious conventional land deterrence given the clear demise in European security,” he said.

Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), said: “After Russia attacked Ukraine the army rapidly tripled its forward presence in eastern europe. No other army in Europe rapidly deployed so many troops as far afield and so quickly but the Army didn’t get credit for this. This is unlike the 2021 Carrier Strike Group, which sailed east in a blaze of publicity.”

He added that whilst it was positive that the Government “has recognised there has been a generational failure to modernise the Army for modern warfare, the acknowledgment of that failure reinforces the sense in the Army that they are inadequately equipped”.

“There will be people in the Army who aren’t feeling happy about how they haven’t modernised in the way the Navy and RAF have,” he said.