THE UK is demonstrating leadership by sending Challenger II tanks to Ukraine, according to Conservative MP Bob Seely.

Mr Seely, a former Army captain, said the Government’s announcement seems designed to encourage other countries to follow suit.

He told GB News: “There’s been nervousness in the West about doing it as major pieces of kit like air power and like tanks have, in the past, been seen as an escalation

“The Russian tactics of hitting civilian infrastructure and trying to make life hellish for the 40 million or so residents in Ukraine has changed that dynamic I think.

“The reason why we’re doing it is to provide political leadership and political cover, so that other countries will send their tanks as well. And, primarily, this is about sending German Leopard tanks of which there are over 3,000 in Western Europe and North America.”

He added: “There’s still a problem in that the mood music from Berlin is that they’re not willing to send until next year, which is way too late.

“All the options facing Ukraine and, frankly, facing the Western alliance, are bad because this is a war that is killing thousands of people a week.

“The least bad option for the Western alliance is to now arm the Ukrainians to win the war this year.

“Everything else becomes more dangerous and more destabilising for Europe and the world because it means the more desperate and aggressive and violent Russia will become.”

Mr Seely told Tom Harwood: “The least bad option is that the Ukrainians have the kit to win this year and currently they don’t have the kit to do that. They need a minimum of 200-300 main battle tanks, Western main battle tanks and probably 500 to 600 infantry fighting vehicles on top of the huge amounts of supplies and the West has already been generous.

“The least bad option for us now is to arm the Ukrainians to win this year and if the Germans don’t supply the tanks that won’t happen.”

He said: “The UK could send 50 Challengers and that would be great but realistically 14 is a squadron of tanks and on the front line, which is over 1,000 kilometres long, 14 tanks is not going to make a significant military difference although it will be a considerable addition.

“There are about 50 tanks in a regiment, so we’re not even supplying a regiment of tanks to the Ukrainians. This is about the politics of this

“This is about us taking the lead, taking some flak, which we’ll get from the Russians and persuading other countries.”

He added: “It’s not necessarily the Germans supplying the tanks themselves, but the Germans agreeing for other nations that have Leopard tanks to export them.

“Finland, I think has them, Poland has them, Austria has them, the Canadians have them, so it’s about persuading these countries to give those tanks – theDanes have them – to maybe donate some of those tanks to the Ukrainians.

“The Ukrainians want Leopard tanks above all else because they seem to be versatile and there’s a lot of them around.”