India has talked to the UK about how Pakistan sent weapons to Ukraine using British planes last month. This is a situation that could hurt India’s defence ties with Britain.
The Indian government brought up the idea of sending arms from Pakistan to Ukraine using UK Air Force planes last month for a period of about 12 days. The ammunition made in Pakistan that got to Ukraine is now being used on the battlefield.
The issue was brought up strongly with the UK, and details about the alleged operation were shared, Sources said that the Indian government is keeping a close eye on the situation and how it might affect India-UK defence ties. The UK wants to improve defence ties with India by working together on defence hardware.
Close UK- Pakistan’s military ties have been a sore spot in relations between New Delhi and London. There are also rumours that Russia is planning diplomatic actions against Pakistan over this issue.
The Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi was part of the air bridge used by the West to get military planes to Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport in Romania via a British air base in the Mediterranean.
This happened as Pakistan’s economic crisis got worse and Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa went to the UK as part of his official foreign trips.
The air bridge avoided Iran and Afghanistan’s airspace and allegedly used the airspace over West Asia to move arms between August 6 and 15. It is said that a British Air Force C-17A Globemaster III (call sign: ZZ173) used the Pakistan air bridge to fly every day between those dates. Ukrainian Army may have been moved.
The Ukrainian foreign minister said nice things about Pakistan last month. Earlier, at a press conference, Ukraine’s FM Dmytro Kuleba said that relations between the two countries have “big potential,” and he added, “We expect greater solidarity from Pakistan for Ukraine.”
In the past, Ukraine’s relationship with Pakistan cast a shadow on its relationship with India. It’s no secret that Ukraine has been a key source of arms for Pakistan. Pakistan Ordnance Factory once said that it made small arms ammunition for standard-issue weapons used by the Ukrainian military.
Pakistan also has more than 320 Ukrainian T-80UD tanks in use, and there is a whole system for their maintenance, use, ammunition, and spare parts.
A few months ago, Mohammad Zahoor, a Ukrainian billionaire who was born in Pakistan, reportedly bought two fighter jets to help Ukraine fight against Russia.
In May that Zahoor had allegedly bought the two Soviet-made jets from an Eastern European country with the help of his business partners. Several countries in Eastern Europe got jets from the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Last year, Pakistan and Ukraine agreed to improve their military ties, especially in the areas of defence production, training, counter-terrorism activities, and intelligence.
Pakistan reportedly wanted to improve defence cooperation with Ukraine through the transfer of technology and joint ventures in the future, since both sides can learn from each other’s experiences. Between 1991 and 2020, Ukraine and Pakistan signed contracts worth nearly $1.6 billion for arms.
You might remember that Ukraine was one of the countries that had opposed India’s nuclear tests in 1998 and had criticised India’s actions at the UN Security Council after the 1998 nuclear tests.
Ukraine had also voted in favour of UN Resolution 1172, which condemned India’s nuclear tests. In the same way, Ukraine did not support India in the Security Council when it came to the Kashmir issue. Instead, it supported the United Nations’ role in the territory.
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