The Russian-Ukrainian war will continue to linger for the next year, and Britain will be at war by the end of the decade, British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace said this week.
On the one-year anniversary of the onset of Russia’s ongoing offensive war in Ukraine, Wallace told Leading Britain's Conversations on Thursday that Putin is not ready to give up, and the war will continue for at least the next year.
“His original ambition last February the 24th was to capture eight main objectives, all of the big cities in three weeks, and he would have Kyiv in three days and it would all be over, “ Wallace told LBC reporter Nick Ferarri. “Well, his three-day offensive has turned into a 365-day offensive, and [he] still [does not hold] a single one of his objectives.”
“Britain’s message to Russia is we are not giving up and we are not going away."
Defense Secretary Wallace
Putin is running the army like a “meat grinder,” says Wallace, not only treating the lives of Ukrainians as expendable but even those of his own Russian soldiers. In the 12 months of war so far, Russia has committed 97% of its army, lost two-thirds of its tanks, and left 188,000 of its soldiers dead or injured. Yet Putin remains persistent.
“Britain’s message to Russia is we are not giving up and we are not going away,” Wallace told The Sun, reaffirming Britain’s status as Ukraine’s most reliable ally.
On the first anniversary of Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the UK and its allies remain steadfast in their support for Ukraine. There is no loss of momentum from the UK and its allies in 2023. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/y7cCX9n8ZH
— Ministry of Defence (@DefenceHQ) February 24, 2023
Earlier this year, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak took initiative by making Britain the first country to supply the Ukrainian army with tanks. The 14 Challenger 2 tanks the UK gifted Ukraine are set to arrive within the month.
Wallace expressed interest in shipping more British tanks to Ukraine when he talked to Ukrainian soldiers being trained to operate their new tanks at Bovington Camp in Dorset, England.
“Five days before the invasion last year, I went to Moscow to see my Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu,” Wallace told the troops. “He said they would not invade and Ukraine would not fight. Well, he lied on the first, and you proved him wrong on the second.”
"We are not in for a period. We are in until you defeat Russia and Ukrainians can go home."
Defense Secretary Wallace
“We are not in for a period,” he continued, further proclaiming his support for Ukraine. “We are in until you defeat Russia and Ukrainians can go home… We know what it’s like to be on our own, outnumbered. In 1939, it was just us. No America, it was just Britain. And everyone said the Nazis had it all, so we know what it is like and that is why you will win and we will stick by you.”
“What’s amazing about this conflict is it doesn’t [matter] where you are in British politics, be it SNP, Labour, Liberal, Conservative, people see the inherent injustice of what has [occurred] in Ukraine—the war crimes, the illegal invasion—and young and old people feel that [they] want to do something about it.”
Wallace predicts Britain will be at war by the end of the decade
Wallace not only fears the ongoing war on a foreign front but also cautions of an imminent one on the homefront. He predicts that Britain will be faced with the threat of war “by the end of this decade” as the world becomes “more dangerous, more anxious, and more insecure.”
Wallace implores Britain to “be ready for whatever could happen” during and after the war between Russia and Ukraine. The only way to do that, he implies, is to allocate extra funding to the military. Hence, he is lobbying for defense spending to double over the next decade, starting with an 11 billion pound increase this year. “Freedom isn’t free,” he told The Sun on Wednesday.
"Freedom isn't free."
Defense Secretary Wallace
Ferarri asked Wallace: “Can my listeners feel safe in their beds tonight that the British army, the British air force have got everything they need would it, God forbid, need to be deployed?”
“They can feel safe in their beds because we belong to NATO, we belong to an alliance of 30 nations that absolutely overmatches Russia in air, sea, and land. So you can go to sleep knowing that if anybody attacked us or Belgium or Italy or if the Russians came across the border to Poland we’ve got 29 friends and that matters. “