Russian President Vladimir
Putin is unlikely to succeed in occupying Ukraine; UK Defence
Secretary Ben Wallace has said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
has “faltered” and is “starting to fail”, Mr Wallace said, as he pledged more
financial and military support to the Eastern European nation’s defence.
Denmark joined the UK in
offering more aid to Ukraine at a conference in Copenhagen on Thursday,
co-hosted by Mr. Wallace.
The defence secretary said it
was important to understand that fighting and loss of life were still taking
place, but added Russia was “starting to fail in many areas”.
“They have failed so far and
are unlikely to ever succeed in occupying Ukraine,” he said.
“Their invasion has faltered
and constantly been remodified to the extent they are really only focusing in
parts of the south and in the east — a long, long way away from their three-day
so-called special operation.”
He said that three days have
turned into more than 150 days, with huge significant losses of both equipment
and personnel.
“President Putin will
have gambled that come August, come a few months in, we will have all got bored
of the conflict and the international community would have gone off in
different directions. Well, today is proof of the opposite,” said the defence
secretary.
“We have come out of this
meeting with more pledges of finance, more pledges of training and more pledges
of military aid, all designed to help Ukraine win, to help Ukraine stand up for
its sovereignty and indeed to ensure that President Putin’s ambitions
fail in Ukraine as they rightly should.”
Mr. Wallace said allies
will need to soon start buying weapons from other countries or “placing orders
in factories to increase ammo supply to Ukraine” as their own reserve stocks
are depleted.
The Ministry of Defence
earlier confirmed it would send more weapons to Ukraine to help it defend
itself against Russia’s invasion.
These will include
multiple-launch rocket systems as well as precision-guided missiles, which can
strike targets up to 80 kilometres away and are designed to defend against
Russian heavy artillery.
“Our continued support sends a
very clear message: Britain and the international community remain opposed to
this illegal war and will stand shoulder to shoulder, providing defensive
military aid to Ukraine to help them defend against Putin’s invasion,” said Mr
Wallace.
