Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many requests his Department has received for support with the humanitarian situation in Ukraine from bordering countries; and how many of the 1000 UK troops who are on readiness to provide that support have been deployed.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) leads on a humanitarian response. To date no formal requests for humanitarian assistance have been received, however the situation remains fluid and could quickly change.
Defence has reduced the forward presence of the Humanitarian Task Force (HATF). However we have a prompt and scalable response to any emergent humanitarian need with approximately 100 personnel deployed in Poland on other operations. The remaining 900 personnel are held at graduated readiness in the UK, with 40 vehicles forward based in Germany.