Grant Shapps branded a ‘newly-minted cretin’ by Russia and accused of trying to start World War III

GRANT Shapps has been branded a “newly-minted cretin” by Russia and accused of trying to start World War Three.

Putin’s closest ally and former Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, lashed out at the Minister for suggesting the UK would send British troops to Ukraine in a sharp escalation of support.

In a rant on the social media platform, Telegram he said: “One newly minted cretin - the British Minister of Defence - decided to transfer British training courses for Ukrainian soldiers to the territory of Ukraine itself.”

The Moscow mouthpiece went on to accuse Shapps of trying to start world war three and took glee in the idea that any British troops in Ukraine would be “mercilessly destroyed”.

Rishi Sunak, who appointed Shapps to the role in a mini reshuffle only a month ago was qucik to shut down the comments: “What the Defence Secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine.

“But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now, there are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.

"That’s not what’s happening.

"What we are doing is training Ukrainians. We’re doing that here in the UK.”

So far all NATO countries have avoided sending troops into Ukraine to prevent being drawn into the war.

In another blow to Ukrainian support, President Biden signed off on a funding bill last night in which billions of dollars of proposed financial aid for Ukraine was removed.

It comes just nine days after President Zelensky flew to Washington and begged for continued US support.

A leaked document sent from Kyiv to its western allies also revealed that Iranian kamikaze drones which have been used to attack Ukrainian cities contain multiple parts that were manufactured in Europe.

Five European companies including a Polish subsidiary of a British multinational company have been named as the original manufacturers of the components.

Since the war broke out the UK has trained over 20,000 members of the Ukrainian armed forces as part of the British operation Interflex.

This number is expected to surpass 30,000 by the end of the year.