British troops could be sent to Ukraine for training as the UK seeks to forge a new leadership role on the war, the defence secretary suggested.

John Healey said the UK needed to “make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need” as he left the door open for it to take place in the war-torn country instead of Britain.

“We [need to] make it easier to the Ukrainians to access and we [need to] work with the Ukrainians to help them motivate and mobilise more recruits,” he said to The Times on a visit to Ukraine.

Asked if this meant extending training of Ukrainian recruits inside the UK to Ukraine itself, he said: “We will look wherever we can to respond to