Medvedev says British military instructors training AFU troops in Ukraine would be ‘legal targets’

After British Defense Minister Grant Shapps said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that he was considering moving training facilities for the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) closer to the Ukrainian border, or even to Ukraine itself, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev responded, calling Shapps a “newly minted moron.”

Medvedev said if British instructors entered Ukraine, they would “turn into a legal target” for the Russian Armed Forces.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak clarified that there are no plans to send British instructors to Ukraine at this time, Reuters reported. According to the prime minister, Shapps was discussing long-term plans and saying that in the distant future, the British military may have the opportunity to conduct training directly in Ukraine.

Britain is one of Ukraine's key allies, supplying Ukraine with weapons, such as long-range Storm Shadow missiles, and training the Ukrainian military.