U.K. Secretary of Defense Grant Shapps said Royal Navy warships will not enter the Black Sea to defend commercial vessels, according to Open Source Intelligence Monitor.
His comments appeared to backtrack from earlier remarks he made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that such an option was “on the “table,” Open Source posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Writing under the handle OSINTdefender, the post read: “U.K. Secretary of Defense, Grant Shapps has stated today that Warships of the Royal Navy will not enter the Black Sea to assist in the Protection of Commercial Shipping, clearly Walking-Back his statement from the other day which claimed that the Option was ‘On the Table’ and being discussed.”
Shapps, who took over as defense secretary from Ben Wallace in August, told the Sunday Telegraph he had spoken to Zelenskyy about the Royal Navy helping to defend commercial vessels in the Black Sea. He did not provide further details.
Shapps also told the newspaper he was in discussions with the British army about “eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine, as well,” The Associated Press reported.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, however, was quick to rule out speculation that British forces were being deployed to Ukraine. Shapps' suggestion was not for the “here and now,” Sunak told reporters, but a possibility “for the long term.”
“There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict. That’s not what’s happening,” Sunak said.
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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