‘I have never been more certain Ukraine will win’
UKRAINE’S heroic defenders can defeat the Russian army and Britain “will stand by them in helping deliver that”, Ben Wallace declared yesterday.
The Defence Secretary accused Vladimir Putin, his inner circle and generals of “mirroring the fascism and tyranny” of the Nazis in the 1940s.
But he warned the Russian president still has one option “in his back pocket” to possibly win the war by the use of “brutality”.
Mr Wallace, in a speech at the National Army Museum in London, signalled Britain will continue arming Ukraine to help it push Russia out of its territory – if President Volodymyr Zelensky requests this.
He said: “It is possible Ukraine will break the Russian army to the extent they either go back to pre-February or they have to effectively fold in on itself.
“That Putin must fail in Ukraine is obviously our key policy mission, but we must not avoid the fundamentals here. It is for Ukraine to choose how it ends this conflict, or how it makes Russia end this conflict.
“It would be totally wrong of me to start telling Ukraine the conditions it should or shouldn’t accept. Whatever they choose, we will stand by them in helping deliver that.” Mr Wallace claimed Moscow’s “battle-winning components” of technology, leadership and intelligence had all failed.
He pointed out Russian pilots had been forced to tape GPS receivers to their dashboards, adding: “Vehicles are frequently found with 1980s paper maps of Ukraine in them.”
Russian troops are so under-supplied they have to use logs to try to defend their logistics vehicles. They have also not been given the medical equipment they need and are followed around by mobile crematoriums to hide the true scale of their losses. Mr Wallace stated the Russian military insults the memory of Soviet troops who fought against Adolf Hitlers in the Second World War.
He said: “Putin, his inner circle and generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 77 years ago, repeating the errors of last century’s totalitarian regimes.
“They are showing the same disregard for human life, national sovereignty, and the rules-based international system.
“The response to this failure by Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine has been a disgraceful display of self-preservation, doubling down on failure, anger, dishonesty and scapegoating.” The Defence Secretary also
said Russian generals must face war crimes trials as troops have committed atrocities.
He said: “Let’s call out the absurdity of Russian generals – resplendent in their manicured parade uniforms, weighed down by their gold braid and glistening medals.
“They are utterly complicit in Putin’s hijacking of their forebears’ proud history; of defending against a ruthless invasion; of repelling fascism; of sacrificing themselves for a higher purpose.
“And now, they are the ones inflicting needless suffering in the service of lowly gangsterism. For them and for Putin, there can be no Victory Day, only dishonour and surely defeat in Ukraine.”
Belarusia’s president Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Moscow, accused the West of supporting Nazi ideas and of being “at war with Russia” in Ukraine.
He claimed in a Victory Day speech: “Followers of the Nazis are obsessed with revenge but they are not ready to fight openly against the heirs of the Soviet people. That’s why they flood Ukraine with weapons.”
But Mr Wallace said Putin was spouting “a number of fairytale claims” that the West wants to invade Russia.
He said: “If it wasn’t so tragic it would be amusing, but it isn’t. One claim is that he is surrounded. Nato accounts for six per cent of his land border. That’s not being surrounded.”
Mr Wallace said only brutality could win the conflict for Russia, but added: “If you win your war by killing, murdering, raping, bombing civilian territories, breaching all human rights, corruption, and that becomes the battle-winning component, the message that sends around the world to other adversaries is incredibly dangerous.
“That you don’t need to have all the best kit or the best training or appropriate rule of law, you just need to be able to be more brutal than the other person.” Boris Johnson said: “I’ve never been more certain Ukraine will win and a sovereign Ukraine will rise again.”
The Prime Minister added: “Britain will be with you for as long as it takes. Putin’s brutal attack on Ukraine shames Russia. His unwinnable war is being fought for his own vanity.” During a Victory Day gathering in Warsaw, Russian ambassador to Poland Sergey Andreev was covered in red paint and branded a “fascist” as angry crowds surrounded him. Ukraine’s defence ministry claimed the Russian are using tanks and artillery in “storming operations” at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.