Britain is stepping up its supply of military equipment to Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday as Volodymyr Zelensky’s government issued a plea for “weapons, weapons, weapons”.
The Cabinet minister stressed that the UK was responding to the call to supply more military hardware to Ukraine to defeat Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion.
Speaking at a Nato meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels, Ms Truss said: “In the face of Putin’s appalling aggression in Ukraine, the G7 and Nato are stepping up our efforts on sanctions and on weapons.
“The UK is now banning all imports of Russian energy, we are sanctioning more banks and we are stepping up our supply of weapons to Ukraine.”
Britain is set to send protected mobility vehicles to Ukraine, having already supplied thousands of missiles, including anti-tank weapons.
A Ukrainian military delegation, led by Deputy Defence Minister Volodymyr Havrylov, visited the Salisbury Plain training area earlier this week and was shown the armoured vehicles, as well as loitering munitions, which hang in the air and can then be later deployed against a target, and the high-speed Starstreak missile system which has already been sent to Ukraine.
My message to our G7 and NATO allies today is simple. The only thing Putin understands is strength. Together with our allies we are keeping the pressure up with more sanctions, weapons and ending imports of Russian energy.
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) April 7, 2022
🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇨🇦 🇯🇵 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/2kzyAg94FN
It comes after Ukraine on Thursday issued three pleas to Nato members to defeat Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion: “Weapons, weapons, weapons”.
Ahead of the high-level talks in Brussels, the country’s foreign minister stressed more military equipment was vital to prevent “enormous sacrifices” and “more Buchas”, the town near Kyiv where Russian forces are accused of killing more than 300 civilians in war crimes which included executions, mass graves and rapes.
Dmytro Kuleba urged countries in the West to “put aside their hesitations, their reluctance” and to supply more arms, stressing that “as weird as it may sound today weapons serve the purpose of peace”.
Issuing his appeal, he said: “My agenda is very simple, it has only three items on it.
“It’s weapons, weapons and weapons.
“We are confident that the best way to help Ukraine now is to provide it will all necessary to contain Putin and to defeat the Russian army in Ukraine so that the war does not spill over.”
He stressed that the Ukrainian army and nation had shown the world that “we know how to fight” and “how to win” against the Russian president’s troops.
“But without sustainable and sufficient supplies of all weapons requested by Ukraine, these wins will be accompanied with enormous sacrifices,” he added.
“The more weapons we get and the sooner they arrive in Ukraine, the more human lives will be saved, the more cities and villages will not be destructed and there will be no more Buchas.
“I call on all allies to put aside their hesitations, their reluctance, to provide Ukraine with everything it needs because as weird as it may sound but today weapons serve the purpose of peace.”
Mr Kuleba stressed that Ukraine’s military needs planes, heavy air defence system, and missiles vehicles from Nato members.
The alliance is not itself providing any weapons, amid concerns that if it did this could allow Mr Putin to seek to escalate the conflict into one between Nato and Russia, so military equipment is being provided by individual nations in bilateral arrangements, even if co-ordinated between allies.
Britain has provided thousands of missiles, including anti-tank weapons, and is reported to be considering sending armoured vehicles which would allow Ukrainian troops to advance with better protection closer towards Russian-occupied territory.
The Czech government is reported to have been sending Soviet era tanks which Ukrainian forces are trained in using.
The US has already provided more than $2.3 billion (£1.7 billion) of lethal assistance to Ukraine since January 2021, including a a $100 million (£76 million) transfer of Javelin anti-armour missiles announced days ago, and was also reported to be training Ukrainian forces in the use of military drones.
Meanwhile, a fifth round of European Union sanctions on Russia, including a ban on coal imports, could be agreed by the bloc on Thursday or on Friday, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said.
“Maybe this afternoon, or tomorrow at the latest,” he said as he arrived at the Nato meeting.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who was attending the summit, announced on Wednesday that the UK was freezing the assets of Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, and Credit Bank of Moscow, banning all new investment in Russia and targeting eight more oligarchs.
The move came after Boris Johnson said the actions of Russian forces in Ukraine appeared close to “genocide”.
