A former head of the Polish army has accused Boris Johnson of “tempting evil” by revealing that Ukrainian soldiers were being trained in Poland in how to use British anti-aircraft missiles before returning with them to Ukraine.
Gen Waldemar Skrzypczak, also a former junior defence minister, complained that a loose-lipped prime minister had revealed too much to the Russians and that his remarks risked the safety of the soldiers involved.
Speaking to Polish tabloid Fakt, Skrzypczak said that Johnson had revealed “a military secret” and that “bad words are on the lips” when he gave details of the Ukrainian training plan on a trip to India last week.
“Military training is a matter of the army, in such a situation secret. Let a man restrain himself and think before he says such things,” said the former general to the newspaper, which described his tone as irritated in an article from Friday.
“The prime minister may not be aware of it, but with such statements he puts the success of the entire military operation at risk, as well as the safety of the soldiers,” Skrzypczak said. “Such statements are tempting evil.”
On the visit, Johnson had revealed that Ukrainians were being taught how to use Nato-standard weapons in both Poland and the UK. “I can say that we are currently training Ukrainians in Poland in the use of anti-aircraft defence, and actually in the UK in the use of armoured vehicles,” he said.
British forces in Poland are training the Ukrainian military in using the Starstreak air defence missile systems. It is likely to be a few weeks before they can be deployed on the frontline to target Russian helicopters and aircraft.
Russia has become irritated by the west’s increased supply of weapons to Ukraine, after its unprovoked invasion of the country two months ago. Earlier this week, Sergei Lavrov, Russian’s foreign minister, accused Nato of being “engaged in a war with Russia through a proxy and is arming that proxy”.
Lavrov added that weapons supplied by western countries “will be a legitimate target” and that Russian forces had already hit weapons warehouses in western Ukraine. But, despite the threats, it is not thought likely that Russia would seek to target them within Nato countries for fear of retaliation.
Western countries deny that Nato has become a party to the conflict. A western official said on Wednesday: “There is a Russian narrative that this is a proxy war between Russia and Nato. It isn’t.” He added: “We are entitled to provide military support to any state exercising its right to self-defence.”
Skrzypczak said he was concerned about how much detail Johnson had been prepared to go into. “It is hard to imagine that when we were on missions abroad, one of the politicians would talk about our plans or training on television.”
