Russia

What weapons are the UK sending to Ukraine?

Earlier this week, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told MPs the UK would be sending "self-defence" weapons to Ukraine amid tensions with Russia.

As well as weapons, UK personnel will also train Ukrainian troops on how to use the weapons systems.

But what weapons will Ukraine receive?

Sam Cranny-Evans, a research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Forces News there are two potential contenders.

"One of them is the Javelin anti-tank guided missile, which Ukraine is already familiar with and has received," he said.

"The other is the next-generation light anti-armour weapon (NLAW) – which was developed by the UK and Sweden to meet their requirements for just a shoulder-fired anti-tank missile."

Watch: Defence Secretary confirms 'light anti-armour defensive weapons' for Ukraine amid Russia tensions.

Mr Cranny-Evans said that while the NLAW is "less sophisticated" than the Javelin, it would be "potentially quite a useful weapon for the Ukrainian forces".

"They're accurate out to 600m, potentially has a reach of up to 1km and it can be fired from within quite confined spaces," he said.

"Everything that is going on over in Donbas, we've seen a lot of urban fighting in the past, we've seen that the Ukrainians are quite well entrenched.

"You can see that they would be quite keen to have a weapon that can be used from within a confined space against lots of different targets."

He also added that while "we know that the Russian forces do like to use lots of armour and lots of artillery", they also combine "their initial offensive forces with rotary-wing aviation".

"So, having a weapons system that can engage a broad set of targets would be very useful to the Ukrainians," he added.