Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
A UK official has called on the country’s former military service personnel not to travel to Ukraine to fight against Russia after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that soldiers would be court-martialed.
In a letter to British armed forces charities on Friday, Leo Docherty, the minister for veterans, wrote, “Veterans always step up in times of need, but they must not engage in the conflict, as they will put themselves at significant risk by entering into a conflict area.”
The minister stressed that veterans should focus on alternative activities such as helping charities instead of getting involved in direct conflict.
The letter to military charities said they could ask for help from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs and the Ministry of Defense (MoD) if they learned about veterans leaving the country to assist the Ukrainian military.
The development comes on the heels of a warning by Johnson that anyone from the UK military who has joined Ukrainian forces would be taken to a court martial on return. He added that civilians should also avoid traveling to Ukraine.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has also warned veterans against joining the Ukrainian forces, saying that those traveling to the conflict zone would not be there for “a selfie and six weeks” but would be in the war “for real.”
A small number of serving British armed forces personnel have reportedly joined the Ukrainian troops, while veterans and Britons without combat experience have also traveled to Ukraine.
