By Tony O’Reilly-
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss plans to give a speech to call for Western powers to provide warplanes to Ukraine, as she calls for increased defense spending.
In a major speech in London, Ms Truss plans to argue that the West “must be prepared for the long haul and double down on our support” for the country.
Her comments come as Russia threatens to attack the Uk due to an increase in the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
Ms Truss will tell an audience at Mansion House, in the City of London, that “the fate of Ukraine remains in the balance” and that the West “cannot be complacent”.
Truss plans to argue that Ukraine needs to be a catalyst for a change in the way that the free world deters aggressors and will add: “Geopolitics is back.”
The foreign secretary is also expected to say that the West cannot get complacent over Ukraine because if Mr Putin succeeds “there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe”.
“We will never feel safe again. So we must be prepared for the long haul and double down on our support to Ukraine,” she will add.
That support should include heavy weapons, tanks, aircraft and further sanctions so there is “nowhere for Putin to go to fund this appalling war”.
“That includes cutting off oil and gas imports once and for all,” she will say.
“If Putin succeeds there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe. We would never feel safe again,” she will say on Wednesday evening.
“Heavy weapons, tanks, aeroplanes – digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this.”
Ms Truss also plans reiterate her call for a boost in UK defence spending.
The Foreign Secretary is not wrong that Ukraine needs utmost support, but it is questionable whether the public announcement so close to threats from Russia is wise.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned weapons supplied by Western countries “will be a legitimate target” and NATO has effectively “entered into a war with Russia through proxies”.
Ms Truss will say the way global security works “has failed Ukraine” stress the need to “follow through” to ensure aggressors “fail” and are “contained” in the future.
Her announcement will serve to provoke Russia more, but there is a general consensus that Putin has gone too far with its illegal invasion of Ukraine which has already cost so many lives, and led to Ukraine being described as a crime scene.
Prosecutors are already preparing a case against Putin’s regime for war crimes, and multiple Russian oligarchs have already been sanctioned heavily as a result to the war in Ukraine.
Lizz Truss calls also comes as the U.S government has called for heaven and earth to be moved to supply more weapons to Ukraine in their fight against Russia.
Russia has bitten more than it can chew in this war , and is believed to have underestimated western unity in confronting its dictatorial and bullish approach in invading Ukraine.
However, it is important that Uk ministers are not too quick to make announcements that can be provocative, and provide whatever support is necessary, without making too much noise about it, and not provide more support than is needed.