LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday pledged to provide Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, making it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for.

The pledge saw a swift reaction from Russia which warned it would only “intensify” the conflict.

“Bringing tanks to the conflict zone, far from drawing the hostilities to a close, will only serve to intensify combat oper­atio­ns, generating more casualties, including among the civilian population”, the Russian embassy in the UK said.

Sunak said the tanks were a sign of the UK’s “ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine”, accor­ding to a readout of a phone call with Ukrainian Presi­dent Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine’s European allies have sent Kyiv more than 300 modernised Soviet tanks since Russia invaded in February 2022.

But they have so far held off on dispatching the Western-made heavy tanks that Ukraine has repeatedly requested to push forward against Russian invaders.

Zelensky thanked the UK on Twitter for making decisions that “will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but also send the right signal to other partners”.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2023