Ben Wallace has said it is “highly unlikely” that Britain or its allies will send troops to defend Ukraine if Russia invades.
The defence secretary appeared to row back from previous comments when he said that the UK could deploy “defence capabilities” to see off a threat from Russia.
Wallace said that Ukraine was not a member of Nato and so the concept of collective defence did not apply. He told The Spectator magazine: “It is not a member of Nato so it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to send troops into Ukraine to challenge Russia. We shouldn’t kid people we would. The Ukrainians are aware of that.”
Asked if that meant Ukraine was on its own, he said: “We can all help
