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Does Britain's training offer change Kyiv's equation?
Summary
A retrospective on 19 December 2024, when London floated sending military advisers to train Ukrainian forces as Western coordination of support changed hands.
What did it mean when Britain's defence secretary, John Healey, announced a proposal on 19 December 2024 to send military advisers to train Ukrainian forces? Read alongside the days before it, the announcement looks like one part of a wider reshaping of how the West supports Kyiv.
Coordination changes hands
On 17 December 2024, NATO's Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine command centre in Wiesbaden, Germany, took over coordination of Western military support to Ukraine from the United States. Two days later, London's proposal put training at the centre of the discussion. The proposal concerned advisers to train Ukrainian forces, and it came as the new arrangement was beginning.
The United Kingdom had backed Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, under Conservative and Labour governments alike. The training proposal fitted that continuity of support.
A tense backdrop
The same week brought a sharp escalation of another kind. On 17 December 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's NBC Protection Troops, and his assistant were killed in Moscow by an explosive device hidden in an e-scooter. A Ukrainian source claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine was responsible, saying Kirillov had been charged in absentia the previous day over the use of chemical weapons, which made him a legitimate target. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said the Ukrainian leadership would face imminent revenge.
What the day showed
The timing matters. Coordination of military assistance was moving to a NATO structure, a major European backer was proposing to deepen training, and the conflict was producing attacks deep inside Russia and threats of retaliation. Healey's proposal was only that, a proposal, and nothing in the reporting of 19 December 2024 settled how or when advisers might deploy. But it showed that London was looking beyond deliveries of equipment towards preparing Ukrainian personnel, at a moment when the machinery of Western support was being rebuilt.
