Rishi Sunak torpedoes Defence Secretary's plan to send British troops to Ukraine

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Sir Ben told military and security experts: “NATO ships are not operating in the Black Sea and one of the reasons for that is really simple - that if they had to grant passage to us then they would have to grant passage to Russian warships as well, and they clearly want to keep the Black Sea Fleet isolated from broader resupply. At the moment, whilst we could clearly play a role with our mine countermeasures expertise, that is not one we are being asked to do currently because of the geopolitical position. I don’t criticise that, and I think the reasons for that are good. But clearly, working with our NATO partners in the Eastern Mediterranean, we continue to keep under review the options of where we may - if asked - could go and help and operate, and I don’t rule anything in or out at this stage.”