UK pledges missiles to Ukraine

Kyiv: Britain pledged on Thursday to send sophisticated medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine, joining the United States and Germany in equipping the embattled nation with advanced weapons for shooting down aircraft and knocking out artillery.

Western arms have been critical to Ukraine's success in stymieing Russia's much larger and better-equipped military during a war now in its 99th day.

A Kremlin spokesman again warned of absolutely undesirable and rather unpleasant scenarios if the latest Western-supplied weapons were fired into Russia.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK would send an unspecified number of M270 launchers, which can fire precision-guided rockets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles).

Ukrainian troops will be trained in the UK to use the equipment, he said.