It would be 'unlawful' and 'unhelpful' for Britons to fight in Ukraine, armed forces head says

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin urged people to support the nation in other ways but urged them not to rush towards the sound of “gunfire”.

Boris Johnson is set to welcome international leaders this week, and will tell them to match rhetoric with action when it comes to Putin’s invasion.

Admiral Sir Tony said this morning “We’ve been very clear that it’s unlawful as well as unhelpful for UK military and for the UK population to start going towards Ukraine in that sense.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday Morning show, he added: “Support from the UK, support in whatever way you can. But this isn’t really something that you want to rush to in terms of the sound of gunfire. This is about sensible support based in the UK.”

Last week, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she supported individuals from the UK who may want to volunteer to fight, believing that it was up to people to make their own decisions, but arguing this is a battle for “democracy”.

Admiral Sir Tony suggested that Ms Truss had been he could and that we can all understand that sentiment, and that sentiment needs to be channelled into support for Ukraine.

“But we’re saying as professional military people, that actually that is not necessarily the sensible thing to be doing.”

As many as 1.5million refugees are now said to have fled in the 11 days since the incursion began, according to the United Nations.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has called on allied nations to implement a no-fly zone over his country, something that Admiral Sir Tony has said “would not help”.

Ukraine has repeatedly said the move is the only way to stop more deaths.

Nato allies have ruled out implementing a no-fly zone over Ukraine amid fears it could prompt an all-out war with nuclear-armed Russia.

The Admiral told the BBC: “Most of the shelling is coming from artillery, most of the destruction is coming from artillery, it’s not coming from Russian aircraft.

“If we were to police a no-fly zone, it means that we probably have to take out Russian defence systems and we would have Nato aircraft in the air alongside Russian aircraft, and then the potential of shooting them down and then that leads to an escalation.”

On Saturday, Mr Putin said the Kremlin would consider any third-party declaration of a no-fly zone over Ukraine as participation in the conflict.

He said Russia would view “any move in this direction” as an intervention that “will pose a threat to our service members”.

“That very second, we will view them as participants of the military conflict, and it would not matter what members they are,” he added.