The former UK First Sea Lord said British naval warfare training provided to Ukraine could have been a key factor in helping to sink Putin’s flagship Moskva.
Admiral Lord West – a former Royal Navy captain and Falklands War hero – was speaking on behalf of Russia He admitted that the cruiser sank to the bottom of the Black Sea.
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Ukraine claim that The ship was hit by cruise missiles After dispersing the defenses of the warship with drones.
The wreckage of the 12,490-ton monster is believed to have been fell into the depths Where it was towed to the port of the Russian Navy Sevastopol in the Crimea.
Speaking to The Sun Online, Admiral Lord West, 73, said the British training would have given the Ukrainians the expertise to help launch an attack on the 40-year-old Soviet-era war machine.
The comments relate to an ongoing package of military support from the British Armed Forces known as Orbital process.
British specialists were in Odessa – from where the missiles are believed to have been launched – last year training Ukrainian forces in naval warfare at Naval Training Center 198, a diving school and a naval school.
The British also trained elite Ukrainian sailors, airmen and marines as part of the vital mission, according to the Ministry of Defense.
The parade was part of a rotation of around 100 British military personnel from the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force who have traveled in and out of Ukraine since 2015.
At that time, Britain trained 22,000 exceptional Ukrainian soldiers.
Lord West explained: “We have certainly been teaching the Ukrainians in some detail about naval warfare, so they will know how to use surface-to-surface missiles and how best to deploy them.
A Neptune rocket needs target information for its initial flight path, then turns on its sensors.
The Ukrainian-made subsonic missile is based on the old Soviet Kh-35 anti-ship missile and can destroy targets more than 200 miles away.
The entire system first entered service in Ukraine last year, and consists of a truck-based mobile launcher, four missiles, a reloading vehicle, and a command and control vehicle.
It is designed to fly close to the surface of the water to avoid detection. Then he hits his target before he knows it’s there.
The former First Sea Lord suggested how such training might have changed.”Tactical dimensions of the Black SeaSo it changed the course of the conflict.
“If the Ukrainians were able to use drones and other intelligence that they might have obtained from us and other allies, to target that far from the coast, that would change Russian tactics,” he explained.
He added how Moskva’s misadventure now “would have a huge impact on them.” [the Russians] and their operations.
“I think now that the Russians have to think carefully about how they will deploy and use their ships,” he added.
The Russian flagship is understood to have left a burning wreck after being hit by two Ukraine-launched Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Moscow has yet to acknowledge that the ship was bombed by Kyiv – and insisted it sank in a storm after a fire caused an explosion of ammunition.
Western officials believe it is “reasonable and probable” that Ukraine bombed the cruiser.
It is believed to be a file A strong blow to Russia’s national pride And a deep personal blow to Putin.
The The attack killed the captain of the ship, Anton Kuprin, 44, An estimated 500 crew members were sent to the water.
It is not known how many died in the wake of the direct blow to Moskva.
Lord West said the next step was to understand how the Ukrainians carried out the attack.
“I think what’s great to know is to hear from our intelligence agencies as quickly as possible, did the Ukrainians do it?” he noted.
“If they do, I think we should tell the world and show how we know that because it would be a huge blow to the Russians.”
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As a result, the Russians will now be “very careful about using their ships near shore” and even at certain ranges of the coast, he said.
Lord West added how he thought the prospect of the Russian Navy making an amphibious landing in Odessa was now “far-fetched” thanks to the ship’s destruction that led to the sabotage of other ships.
He also noted that the drowning was an “astounding loss of face” for the Russians and would hit Putin hard as well.
“This would be a personal blow as well as a major blow to national prestige, not least because Putin loves his navy,” he said.
This would be a personal blow as well as a major blow to national prestige, not least because Putin loves his navy
Admiral Lord West
“It’s one of his favorite forces because his dad was in the Navy and he’s always had a real weakness for that.”
The former First Sea Lord suggested that the Russians might be forced to launch a diving mission aboard the ship.
This will be in order to protect military secrets that may be kept on the Moskva and that could fall into the hands of the Ukrainians.
Lord West was First Lord of the Sea and Chief of the Naval Staff from 2002 to 2006.
From June 2007 to May 2010, he was the Under-Secretary of State for the Labor Parliament in the Ministry of the Interior – responsible for security.
He was also a security advisor to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
We got your back
British training was pivotal in Ukraine’s war with Russia.
In the days leading up to the invasion, Ukrainian soldiers from all over the country showed up in droves to receive UK training NLAWs [next generation light anti-tank weapons].
The UK has so far provided over 5,000 NLAWs to Ukrainian forces and shipped over 6,000.
British forces said they had proven invaluable in slowing the Russian advance.
Among other weapons provided by Britain, the lethal Starstreak missile system was registered destroy russian helicopters.
Snapshots from April 1 Show a Russian Mi-28N helicopter cut in two It hit its tail with a laser-guided device traveling at more than three times the speed of sound, causing it to land on the ground in the Luhansk region.
Russia since then Pledge to target weapons supplied by Britain Granted to the Ukrainians accused the United Kingdom of escalating the war.
It is estimated that the United Kingdom provided more than 450 million pounds for military support to Ukraine Since the outbreak of the war on February 24.
And in an unusual revelation on Saturday, times She mentioned how elite British Special Forces soldiers “train the local forces in Ukraine”.
It is understood that the Special Forces – considered the best in the world – have been stationed in the country since the beginning of the war, teaching soldiers how to use NLAWs and providing other training.
“They were good guys, the British,” a Ukrainian named “Skif” – attached to the 112nd Battalion, one of two allegedly trained by the SAS – told the newspaper, after his training in Obolon, one of Kyiv’s provinces.
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