the times | Tuesday March 15 2022 13
News
The Ministry of Defence failed to carry
out an annual assessment last year
which checks whether the armed forces
have the right kit and the ability to
respond effectively to threats.
If it had been carried out, it might
have made for uncomfortable reading,
according to analysts who are examin-
ing the war in Ukraine.
At the attrition rates being seen in the
conflict, Britain’s Royal Armoured
Corps would struggle to last a week,
they say.
According to the figures published by
the Ukrainian armed forces, during
17 days of war the Russian military has
lost 389 of its 2,927 main battle tanks,
including T-72s.
The British Army is reducing its
number of tanks from 227 to 148 in
favour of spending more money on
upgrading the ones that remain as part
of the integrated review of defence and
foreign policy, published last year. The
review will also lead to the army’s size
being reduced to 72,500 soldiers by
2025, with more focus on drones and
cyberwarfare. Some former military
chiefs have said that the plans should be
reversed and have called for billions of
pounds more to be invested in the
military.
Labour said that the MoD failed to
carry out its test of the armed forces’
capabilities last year, which might have
exposed shortfalls. The assessment,
known as the Defence Capability As-
sessment Register, is designed to test
whether the armed forces could com-
plete tasks they are expected to prepare
for, from small-scale operations to
reinforcing Nato partners.
However, instead of the capability
assessment a “less formal review” was
undertaken in February last year.
Defence sources said that this was
because the policy, priorities and
outcomes had changed as a result of the
integrated review and the assessment
would be conducted this year with
those changes in mind instead.
Chris Evans, the shadow defenceprocurement minister, said: “The MoD
is a uniquely failing department. By
failing to carry out this assessment,
ministers either don’t want to check
that our troops have the right kit they
need or are worried about the gaps they
will find.
“Ministers must fix the deep-seated
issues with our defence procurement
system to ensure our armed forces are
properly equipped against increasing
threats.”
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford,
who served in the Royal Tank Regi-
ment for 20 years, said that in the 1980s
the army had 900 tanks.
“Now we are hopelessly under-
equipped,” he said. “They [tanks] are so
few in number and there are no re-
serves.
“The Royal Armoured Corps is now a
‘use once only’ asset, because we have
no replacement tanks to re-equip it.”
Justin Crump, of Sibylline, an intelli-
gence and geopolitical risk firm, said:
“If the review had been carried out
honestly, it would likely have made
uncomfortable reading.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman
said: “The Defence Capability Assess-
ment Register framework, and scenari-
os that underpin it, have been updated
to reflect the new priorities set out in
the Defence Command Paper.
“The assessment process is being
conducted this year against the new
policy priorities.”said they were successfully using
guerrilla tactics along with more
traditional forms of warfare.
Matthews, 34, a veteran of the
2nd Battalion Princess of Wales’s
Royal Regiment, completed tours of
Iraq and Afghanistan. He is among
hundreds of British and American
volunteers who have joined the
fight against Russia.
Matthews said he had witnessed
Russian forces destroy schools and
reduce other infrastructure to
rubble. Shells had been “raining
down” on bridges and churches,
Matthews said, with bombs falling
“indiscriminately” across Kyiv,
leaving residents cowering in
makeshift shelters.
Matthews, from Chichester, West
Sussex, said he flew to Poland
before “thumbing lifts” to Kyiv.
Despite warnings that soldiers
could be prosecuted if they travelled
to Ukraine, Matthews described his
presence in the country as a “duty”.He launched a crowdfunding
campaign to help pay for medical
supplies and key equipment, and
arrived in Kyiv with 60kg (132lb) of
donated medical supplies for
Ukrainian forces.
Since President Zelensky
announced the creation of an
“International Legion” to defend
Ukraine, 20,000 people from 52
countries have volunteered,
according to Dmytro Kuleba, the
Ukrainian foreign minister.News
Enough tanks in
Britain ‘for just
one week of war’
Larisa Brown Defence EditorThe army’s tank fleet will be cut to 148
compared with about 900 in the 1980sSOLENT NEWS
Call of duty: Shane
Matthews, circled,
with a group of other
fighters in UkraineRussian military leaders “should
know that they cannot act with
impunity”, Dominic Raab, the justice
secretary, said yesterday as he met
Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor at
the International Criminal Court in
the Hague to offer “practical support”
on investigating and prosecuting
potential war crimes in Ukraine.
Raab — a former Foreign Office
lawyer who specialised in war crimes
— vowed that the government would
“bring together a broad coalition ofcountries” to assist the court’s
investigators. “The international
community has started looking at
sanctions against the war machine
that Putin has assembled,” he said.
His visit came after he held a
virtual meeting last week with
Ukraine’s prosecutor-general, Iryna
Venediktova, and the attorney-
general, Suella Braverman. “Russian
commanders carrying out war crimes
should know they cannot act with
impunity,” he said.Musk challenges Putin to ‘single combat’ fist fight
ukraine in brief
New compensation battle Raab promises support for war crimes prosecutors
over downing of MH17 jet
Australia and the Netherlands have
begun further legal action over the
shooting-down of a passenger jet over
Ukraine by Russia’s separatist proxies
in July 2014, seeking millions of
dollars in reparations for the missile
attack on Malaysia Airlines Flight
MH17 that killed 298 people.
Australia, in co-ordination with the
Dutch authorities, has initiated
formal proceedings in the
International Civil Aviation
Organisation in an attempt to force a
negotiation over compensation
payments to the families of the
victims. In October 2020 Russia
unilaterally withdrew from
negotiations with Australia and the
Netherlands over the MH17 incident
and has refused to return, despite
repeated requests.
The action is in addition to the
Dutch prosecution of three Russian
suspects and one Ukrainian for the
downing of MH17. None of them has
agreed to appear before a Dutch
court, but they have also faced civil
claims for compensation.Elon Musk has challenged President
Putin to a “single combat” fist fight
over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Musk, thought to be the world’s
richest man with an estimated net
worth of $219 billion, challenged
Putin on Twitter. Putin holds a black
belt in judo and Musk has claimed he
trained in kyokushin karate, Brazilian
jiu-jitsu, taekwondo and judo.
In a tweet containing some words
in Cyrillic, Musk said: “I hereby
challenge Vladimir Putin to single
combat. Stakes are Ukraine.” He
tagged the official Twitter account
of the president of Russia and
wrote: “Do you agree to this fight?”
There has been no response
from Putin, 69, who has spent
decades showing off his
physical prowess. Images
posted online showed him
taking part in extreme sports
and riding horses bare-
chested.
A Twitter user suggested
that the Russian president
would defeat Musk in a fight,
but the boss of Tesla said: “If
Putin could so easily humiliate the
West, then he would accept the
challenge. But he will not.”
Musk, 50, said he was “absolutely
serious” about the fight. He has
already intervened in Russia’s war on
Ukraine by supplying SpaceX Starlink
antennas to give Ukrainians access to
the internet after Russian shelling and
cyberattacks disrupted the network.
Dmitry Rogozin, head of the
Russian space agency Roscosmos,
replied to Musk’s Twitter challenge,
calling him “weak”.
Musk’s eccentricities and colourful
social media presence have
attracted controversy, including an
incident in 2018 when he
offered his help in the
rescue of a group of
children trapped in a
Thai cave. One of the
rescuers accused him of
staging a PR stunt; he
responded by dismissing the
man as “pedo guy”.Elon Musk said he trained
in martial arts as a childSiblings rescued by their
grandmother start school
Pupils at a school in Italy cheered,
clapped and waved Ukrainian flags to
welcome two children starting classes
after fleeing Ukraine. As Russia
invaded, the brother and sister,
Dimitri, 8, and Victoria, 11, were
spirited away to Italy by their
grandmother, who has lived near
Naples for 20 years. The children
started classes at Don Milani school
near the city yesterday.Refugees’ escape stalls at
Mexican border with US
Some of the 2.6 million Ukrainian
refugees have made it to Mexico,
where they claim they are being held
up at the border with America. About
20 Ukrainians and exiles from Russia
arrive daily at the San Ysidro crossing
in Tijuana, Baja California, according
to customs officials. Many say they
get little assistance from the US.
President Biden had said refugees
would be welcomed with open arms.