Ukraine war: Europe will be 'much less safe' if NATO does not push Putin's forces out, foreign secretary warns

NATO members should make it their “absolute priority” to cease the Ukraine struggle and push Russian troops overseas – or face a “much less safe Europe”, the foreign secretary has warned.

Speaking to Sky News, Liz Truss described Vladimir Putin as an “appalling dictator” who was “perpetrating a war that was neither legal nor justified in any possible way”.

“I’ve not met Vladimir Putin, I don’t know the motivation for carrying out this appalling war,” she mentioned.

“All I know is that we have to make it our absolute priority to stop this war and to push Vladimir Putin and the Russian troops out of Ukraine.”

UK to offer additional £1bn in army help – reside Ukraine updates

Ms Truss spoke to Kay Burley from Madrid, the place leaders of the 30 NATO members have gathered to agree a brand new plan for the alliance in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

The foreign secretary’s feedback got here because the Ukrainian defence minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, informed Sky News the Third World War “has already started”.

Meanwhile, the UK authorities has introduced it’s to offer an additional £1bn of army help to Ukraine. It brings the entire UK army help because the outbreak of struggle to £2.3bn – greater than any nation apart from the US.

The prime minister mentioned the extra cash will go in the direction of capabilities together with subtle air defence methods, uncrewed aerial automobiles, modern new digital warfare gear and hundreds of items of important equipment for Ukrainian troopers.

Posting on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the UK for the extra funds, posting: “I am grateful to the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson for allocating an additional £1 billion for security assistance to Ukraine.

“The United Kingdom is our true good friend and strategic associate. We admire the constant management help for Ukraine in countering Russian aggression.”

Read extra:
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Defence price range ‘should be match for goal’

But again at residence, there’s an ongoing debate over whether or not defence spending ought to be elevated in mild of the battle.

The UK at the moment spends round 2% of its GDP on defence, matching the goal NATO units for its members, however the defence secretary has urged the PM to extend spending on the UK’s armed forces in response to the struggle.

Ms Truss declined to say if she agrees with Mr Wallace’s plea, however mentioned the price range should be “fit for purpose”.

“I agree that we need to make sure that all of the Western alliance is spending more on defence and putting more into supporting our eastern allies,” she informed Sky News.

“I’m not going to get into details of the negotiations of the spending review.

“I believe it’s crucial that we do be sure that our defence price range is match for goal and in addition capable of cope with the trendy challenges like cyber warfare, the problems that we face in area as properly.”

Asked about government plans to shrink the armed forces, she said: “I help our plans on defence.

“But what I’m saying is we need to continue to evolve them as we face new and different threats. I don’t think any of us expected to see this type of war on European land in our lifetimes.”

Read extra:
Last days of Lysychansk: Inside a metropolis on the brink

Putin proved ‘utterly incorrect’

Ms Truss additionally dismissed criticism from a parliamentary committee that the federal government was too sluggish to impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs.

“We acted very quickly,” she mentioned. “And we have done more than any other country in terms of the number of individuals and entities who were sanctioned.”

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On Wednesday, the PM mentioned Mr Putin had been proved “completely wrong” concerning the energy of NATO, which is set to broaden to incorporate Sweden and Finland after they ended many years of neutrality over issues about Russia.

It got here as members of the alliance agreed to position 300,000 troops at excessive readiness subsequent yr, up from the present degree of 40,000.

For the UK, this will imply the “majority” of naval forces – together with one of many plane carriers and its help vessels – being obtainable to NATO, together with additional air squadrons and land brigade-sized models.

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