THE GUARDIAN / UK
Britain will reportedly soon send armoured missile launchers to Ukraine after Russia started its full-scale offensive to take control of the country’s east, PA Media is reporting.
The ministry of defence demonstrated the Stormer High Velocity Missile (HVM) launcher for Ukrainians on Salisbury Plain two weeks ago, according to The Sun, with the paper adding the 13-tonne vehicles can be flown to the war on C-17 transport planes in days.
The Stormer is manufactured by BAE Systems, needs just three people to operate it and and uses Starstreak missiles, which can be used to take down low-flying aircraft.
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a “significant part of the entire Russian army” was concentrated on an offensive in the east in the mostly-Russian speaking Donbas, where Moscow-backed separatists have declared two independent republics that have been recognised by Russia.
Zelenskiy has been pleading for western powers to give him greater firepower to fight back, with Boris Johnson saying on 7 April that he was “certainly looking at what more military assistance we can give” amid reports the UK could send armoured vehicles.
On the same date, foreign secretary Liz Truss said the UK was “stepping up” the supply of arms, as she joined Nato counterparts in Brussels to hear the demands from Ukraine for more equipment.