Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently made an incorrect claim via social media about the UK being the first country to supply tanks to Ukraine.
On April 6, 2022, The Independent reported that the Czech Republic became the first NATO member to respond to Kyiv’s request for tanks.
Online footage from Czech Television showed a train transporting five T-72 tanks and five BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. This dispatch was authenticated by Ondrej Benesik, a member of the Czech lower house’s European affairs committee.
On the other hand, the UK’s decision to dispatch Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine was documented later by UK media on January 14, 2023. Following a dialogue between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Downing Street declared its intent to send the “game-changing” tanks.
The decision was framed as an effort “to seize on the moment with an acceleration of global military and diplomatic support to Ukraine.”
We were the first country to send tanks to Kyiv, now more than 10 others have followed.
We were the first country to agree to train Ukrainian pilots, now over a dozen others do too.
I say this to our allies, give @ZelenskyyUa the tools, the Ukranians will finish the job. pic.twitter.com/rtTlaqNdsr
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 4, 2023
For those unfamiliar, Community Notes allows Twitter to add context to misleading posts. It’s an open-source and transparent initiative aimed at creating a more informed digital community.
Twitter’s community notes team drew attention to the inaccuracy in Prime Minister Sunak’s statement concerning the UK being the pioneer in dispatching tanks. Instead, they highlighted that the Czech Republic took the lead in this regard.
However, the distinction of being the first to provide tanks amidst the conflict goes to the Czech Republic, as they took this action in April 2022. It remains imperative to authenticate claims made by officials for an unambiguous grasp of global happenings.
Rishi is a politician. I suspect he (or the person writing his speech) merely omitted the “Main battle” bit on the basis that it might confuse both politicians & the public alike. The point is still valid even though it technically needed a bit of qualification.
Since the T-72 is a MBT, the qualification wouldn’t make the tweet any more correct.
What’s the t72 then, a fish tank?
Haha fish tank😂😂😂
I believe its utility as a fish tank depends strongly on how fast the turret is currently flying.
They tend to be full of holes, particularly the Russian ones, and a bit leaky.
😄
First to send western tanks
Yes that might well have been less confusing. I suspect though that a large majority of those reading would have made that assumption.
Let’s say that in Ukraine, given the increase of Russian production, question is who will be the second one and so on. Production lines in Ukraine, why not, but what about Russian missile strikes. USA weapons? What if Trump is elected? Running on European stockpiles, which one. Increasing production plans amids Russian nuclear threats? Who will? The only potential guardians of freedom in Europe, the decision and the burden rest on the shoulder of 2 countries: UK and France. Moment is of high importance. Will we let Ukrainiens down? If so, war will soon reach Poland, Baltics, Finland and Romania.… Read more »
Yes. I’m the first to call out politicians of any party for spin, possibly noted, but this is pedantic-semantics by TwiX – in an age when our politicians are so addicted to Spin that they more closely resemble Whirling Dervishes under some mind-bending influence.
How is it nit picking? The statement is completely wrong the UK was not the first country to send (main battle) tanks to Ukraine (adding “main battle tank” to Rishis tweet would still make it wrong).
send? Surely ‘pledge’ is the principal error here? In other words, PM missed his best opportunity to show our politicians making a pledge that was subsequently honoured? And led the West. Politically, less a Debunk than a D’oh, at a time in the UK when any substantiated ‘subsequently honoured pledge’ would have come in mighty handy.
My apology, Redshift. April 2022 substantially precedes 2023. Rgs.
hardly surprising considering pretty much every claim he made in his speech to the Conservative Party conference was debunked later ( apart from his promises which clearly cannot be debunked unless he wins the next election and then fails to achieve then). personally I think the best one was when he lambasted Starmer for talking to Europe about the immigration issues and what agreement could be made and the very next day he’s co chairing a European Political community on negotiating an agreement on what to do about the migrant crises…when Labour talk to other European nations about migration they… Read more »
So to speak, conservative ideology has run into the buffers in the face of a world which is changing faster than it can handle. In my opinion the traditional Left vs Right decision is not the important issue at the next election. Probably we should should be focussing on food, water and energy security, defence, how to handle climate change and how to reverse the tide of immigration from Africa – which means we have to intervene economically, politically and possibly militarily in Africa with some kind of Marshall plan. The Pope has accused western countries irresponsible lifestyles and desire… Read more »
I cannot disagree, the world is heading into a shitstorm whichever way you look… we have 1.6 billion people who now cannot get enough food for even basic nutrition needs…that’s not including the few billion more who live in areas that are one bad year away from famine..that’s only going to get worse…Africa and china even the US/Central America are going to at some point struggle to produce food..as the climate gets worse…all the while the UK may have to struggle with sea ice covering its ports in winter ( shut down of the North Atlantic drift part of the.… Read more »
You are worrying about sea ice ? The implausible suggestion the Gulf Stream ‘shuts down’ -ROFL- would mean much bigger problems than that. Have you never been to Sweden in winter?
Chiantishire for me !
Ohh no I like it cold…give me norways climate any day of week ( I’m the sort of person who runs in snow wearing a T-shirt) …..but the science says the North Atlantic drift is shutting down ( it’s dependent on the salinity of the Cold Northern ocean) estimates are the north atlantic drift will shut down between 2025 ( low likelihood) to 2050 ( almost inevitable)…the Gulf Stream itself would not shut down as its powered by the motion of the planet….but the North Atlantic drift will likely do so and its going to make the UK cold dry… Read more »
Science isnt like a bible that ‘says’ any sort of truth, unless you want it to be Even when I went to university some decades back , one of the Professors was clear that a text book on a technical subject was ‘wrong’ on one matter. Its like that all the time, only after a long time – reason why Nobel prizes are given 20-30 years later than original publishing- can a consensus arise and even then with disagreements. Even worse climate science is largely based on computer modelling which doesnt give a single answer either _ same models cant… Read more »
Yes but if someone gives you a cup of sweets and says half are poisoned half are not…would you take a sweet and eat it……I regularly treat people with drugs that may or may not kill then in front of me…knowing that they are more likely to die if I don’t treat…we spend a fortune on insurance for things that have almost no chance of occurring…scientists will always say it may not occur that way…but when they tell you it’s likely you should take notice….I regularly asses risks that can kill many many people ….most of the time I risk… Read more »
What I wouldn’t give for ‘dry’…
The rapidly deteriorating climate is going to cause massive migration pressures with countries North of the line of the Alps likely to have to house hundreds of millions of migrants fleeing uninhabitable conditions of extreme heat, drought and failing crop and food production. Those countries need to adapt but are too poor so agree the world does need a Marshal plan. The answer is subterranean cities with underground roads, footpaths, parks and hydroponic gardens and farming. Morocco and Libya are both toying with these concepts but would need massive construction to achieve the scaling up required to move their populations… Read more »
What about people who comment on defence sites ( shit im a narcissist) 😂😂🤣🤣🤣.
‘The United Kingdom was one of the first …’ and he is home and dry.
I don’t see this as a significant issue. I doubt the Ukrainians care; they have received basic infantry training from the U.K. for years and years.
Sunak’s Tories are such a limp mob, but there is no need to flagellate them over a misstep; all over the internet today one can read how the U.S.A. won World War II single handed …
… and we all know that Nelson would never have wone the battle of Waterloo without the help of the US 7th Cavalry !
Young Tony wrote
”and we all know that Nelson would never have wone the battle of Waterloo without the help of the US 7th Cavalry !”
Actually it was the 3rd Foot and Mouth where Private Widdle won the Victoria cross by first stopping Camemberts attack to the rear and then proceeded to stop Bidets follow up attack armed only with his wholly underwear Apparently it caused something of a stink back at Horse Guards with Sir Henry Simmerson
This place is not what it was. Nowhere is now. 😉
Cough cough…The Prussians with Corporal Trumpf
That’s a pretty good description of about 90% of tw@ter.
The lies from this government just never stop. I’m not sure they even know when they are lying now.
Its missing a clarification of modern tanks, instead of just ex-Soviet relics. Its far from a big issue; especially when you consider its aimed at the general public who view a tank as a tank.
That’s a huge issue! It’s aimed at the general public and playing off their ignorance to mislead them into believing something that is not true. It sums up our politics perfectly. Its rotten to the core. People cast a vote based on lies. How anyone can think this is acceptable is beyond me. The country is a broken mess and getting worse by the day.
If they view a tank as a tank then it’s even worse and more misleading because ex Soviet tanks were delivered a year before we sent Challenger tanks.
I’m sorry Luke but your comment illustrates one of the key problems in society, Its lack of grace. People want their pound of flesh, they want perfect truth telling, they want 100% accuracy, no rhetoric, no hyperbole, no rounding, no estimation, no mistakes – its just not humanly possible. No one is perfect, we have all fallen short, non of us are good so we should all show each other a lot more mercy and understanding than we currently do – but we are all, to one extent or another, blind to our own biases. All Sunak had to say… Read more »
Great reply.
That’s the same weasel way of thinking that allows tankies to say the USSR joined WW2 in 1941 against the Nazis.
It’s actually important that elected officials are held to account to actually tell the truth..to just accept that politicians can lie by omitting a key fact is a nail in the coffin of democracy….if politicians don’t tell the truth or be held to account for the Truth then there is very little point in democracy…and we may as well just accept a world in which doublespeak…and finally doublethink…. “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing… Read more »
Tweeters need tweetment! 😎
Tomarto, tomayto. We all know he’s referring to modern Western Main Battle Tanks, and not the zippo lighter of a T72 which brews up faster than a squaddie with 15 mins spare. Yes he’s a lightweight, yes he’s a investment banker and I will even go as far to say his loyalty lies more with India than with the Uk. But why are we fact checking something that doesn’t require fact checking
Thank you Farouk, thank you 🙏 – finally someone who sees sense and a that a slight error isn’t the end of the world and “the tories scandalous lying”. Come on guys, anyone who cares about this topic, knows what he really meant (Western modern MBT’s) and anyone who doesn’t know about this doesn’t really care.
“brews up faster than a squaddie with 15 mins spare”
Comedy gold right there!!!
Sunak speaks. Sunak lies. No news here. It’s just a fact of life.
The man is as appealing as a freshly laid skid mark.
Pretty much sums up Sunak.
All mouth and no trousers.
Not that the ranks of the Labour front bench are any better.
Its his social media …. all run by people who are hardly 21
Oh I don’t know. I find Angela Rayner strangely appealing.
The ginger ninja will lead us to the promise land.
She’s what Prescott was to Blair. Interesting
Very very strange but then there is no accounting for attraction.
Shock horror a politician told a porky, sorry said something that was not quite what is seemed. The people of the north beware.
Fleas fighting over the dog they live on.
I’m very critical of Musk but the Community Notes is the best thing you can do to fight misinformation on Twitter; next to shutting the site down.
Worth remembering that although several former Warsaw Pact countries donated old T72s quite early in the conflict, Kyiv made it clear they wanted Western MBTs. ( Not surprising, given the poor performance of both Russian and Ukrainian tanks). Whilst other countries hesitated, UK agreed to add tanks to the large amount of kit already supplied. Other countries then followed. I don’t think Sunak’s speech was misleading. The general tenor of it was to emphasize Britains early, sustained and substantial support- all true.
I don’t really see what the big deal is all about ,ok he got it a little wrong about about UK Tanks been first, really meaning first western tanks.But like you say UK were at Ukraine door step 👍 🇬🇧
First WESTERN tanks supplied to Ukraine. That was the really important ‘door opener’ point !
It was about shaming (but not naming) the USA and Germany, A strategic lever to force an issue.
It is an enormous shame that Ben Wallace is no longer there to explain the above to Mr Sunak……..
I think feeble minded Joe Bidden might be about to do a Sunak and row back on support for Ukraine as the time for their counter attack runs out and the Ukrainian military have not achieved, as yet, the breakthrough we all hoped for. With political upheaval in the US and Putin stocking conflict in the Balkans Mad Vlad senses his time is approaching for Russia to once again bring areas of Eastern Europe under his domain and rebuild the iron curtain and a buffer zone between mother Russia and NATO. If Ukraine is overwhelmed and finally subjugated, due to… Read more »
Very true words and really good post .I really wish our government would wake up and take a look what the pols are doing in Defence, there looking like a Britain of the 80s , in some ways 👍
But its so much fun!
It must be a day with D in it.
We were the first to send NATO Main Battle Tanks but several counties donated ex soviet equipment long before we did,
It’s all nonsense anyway, as delivery was the same time for multiple countries including the UK and Germany and the US (ok with ifv and not mbt but still timed to be aligned), and delivery is all that matters. I’m convinced there was cross country agreement to supply and just the UK broke the news early because at the time things were pretty bad for the government in the news and they needed a good news story.