At the same time, Britain and other NATO allies were enjoying an “amazing opportunity” to learn about President Vladimir Putin’s military capabilities from Russian weapons seized by the Ukrainians, Ben Wallace told Sky News. He said the UK was looking into a Sky News report this week that Moscow had flown British and US anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran along with 140 million euros (122 million pounds) in August, which they intend to exchange for dozens of deadly drones. are to be used against Ukraine. Ukraine live updates: Putin ‘basically stuck’ and running out of options The NLAW, Javelin and Stinger munitions were intended for the Ukrainian military but had fallen into Russian hands, according to a security source. “Of course, we don’t want to see these things happen,” Mr Wallace said. “But basically, that’s the risk we took when we decided it was important to help Ukraine.” It also worked both ways, with the UK and other NATO allies able to learn from the Russian weapons captured by the Ukrainians. “Russia has lost significant numbers of its Class A capabilities – hundreds and thousands have been captured,” Mr Wallace said. “This is an amazing opportunity for NATO countries to understand the technologies that are in Russian equipment and that will give us a very strategic advantage in the future.” Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 2:45 Sky’s Diana Magnay analyzes the Russian withdrawal from the city of Kherson As for the NLAW anti-tank missiles that the UK has given Ukraine, they are highly effective pieces of kit but are not equipped with the next-generation technology that the UK is currently working on, the Defense Secretary said. “That will mean that there will be differences between what the Iranians are developing – if they have NLAWs – and what we have and that’s the same for the US javelins… So I’m not particularly worried. But of course, it was a risk that we took as a calculation”. Read more about the war in Ukraine: Eyewitness: Ukrainian troops on track and target Kherson city More than 100,000 soldiers ‘killed or injured’ on both sides of war He added: “Iran has a history of reverse engineering. It has always been very cunning in taking technologies from abroad and trying to turn them into its own capabilities. “And indeed, the Ukrainians have captured Iranian drones that we’ve seen on TV showing a significant number of Western components inside.”
