The UK is considering sending tanks to Poland in a special “backfilling” operation so the European ally can pass on its own tanks to Ukraine, Boris Johnson has announced.

       The government has been reluctant to make the potentially escalatory move of sending armoured vehicles directly to Ukraine – but the PM said there was now a plan to help Poland provide T72 tanks.

       “We are looking more at what we can do to backfill in countries such as Poland, who may want to send heavier weaponry to help defend the Ukrainians,” Mr Johnson told a press conference in India.

       The prime minister said: “We are looking at sending tanks to Poland to help them as they send some of their T72s to Ukraine.”

       He added: “We’ve got to look at what more we can do militarily, we’ve got to keep intensifying the economic sanctions – we want to make sure there is wave after wave of intensifying pressure on Putin.”

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       Mr Johnson also said it was a “realistic possibility” that Russia could win its war in Ukraine by the end of next year, as western officials have briefed.

       “The situation is unpredictable at this stage, but we’ve also seen the incredible heroism of the Ukrainian people,” he said. “[Putin] will not be able to conquer the spirit of the Ukrainian people.”

       It emerged on Thursday that a small number of Ukrainian troops are being trained in Britain for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion.

       The troops began training with armoured patrol vehicles donated by Britain earlier this month, No 10 said.

       Britain is providing Ukraine with 120 armoured patrol vehicles, including the Mastiff, which can be used as a reconnaissance or patrol vehicle.

       The prime minister’s spokesman said Britain, in conjunction with its allies, was providing new types of equipment to Ukrainian soldiers that they may not have used before.

       “It is only sensible that they get requisite training,” the spokesman said. “We are always conscious of anything perceived to be escalatory, but clearly what is escalatory is the actions of Putin’s regime.”

       Mr Johnson announced that the UK will re-open its embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv next week. The British embassy was moved from the city in mid-February, shortly before the Russian invasion.

       The prime minister said on Friday that it was now safe for UK diplomats to return to Kyiv, after Ukrainian forces successfully “resisted” Russian advances on the capital.

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       Meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Johnson refused to use a Russian-built helicopter to ferry him to a factory during his visit to India.

       After the prime minister’s staff vetoed the Mi-17 chopper, a US-built Chinook was flown from an Indian Air Force base six hours away to do the job.