Is the United Kingdom cutting back on military training for Ukrainians? No, that's not true: This is not a cut in the military training program as a whole, but a reduction of exercises at the Lydd Ranges training area by a third. The UK Ministry of Defense took the step in response to complaints by residents about the noise and smoke being caused by the drills at the military base near Dungeness.
On September 13, 2023, the claim appeared in a video posted on the TikTok account @bag_lt (archived here). The on-screen caption reads (translated by Lead Stories staff):
Great Britain cuts military training program for the AFU
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Sep 14 11:04:51 2023 UTC)
The claim comes from the Belarusian state-controlled media, known as Belteleradiocompany. It refers to an article published by The Times on September 11, 2023. The article did not say the UK was cutting AFU's training program in the UK but rather cutting back the program at a single military base.
The Ministry of Defence was forced to cut exercises by a third at Lydd Ranges, a military base outside Dungeness, because of anger from residents about explosions and smoke.
The UK's military support to Ukraine is ongoing and continues to provide equipment, training, and military aid to Ukraine's armed forces. By the end of June, some 17,000 Ukrainians had completed the five-week course, and the UK plans to train another 20,000 in 2023-2024.
