US urged to stick with Ukraine in war effort
BORIS Johnson yesterday urged America to continue “backing the right horse” in the Ukraine war.
The former Prime Minister said Washington’s continued support for Kyiv “will pay off massively in the long run”.
He told US conservatives in Dallas to “stick with it” amid concerns Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis – the two frontrunners for the Republican nomination – may not continue the same level of backing.
Mr Johnson said he had “every hope that the Ukrainians will be able to deliver a very substantial counterpunch this summer”.
He added that there was “a prospect of a complete Russian military collapse”.
“You are backing the right horse,” he said. “Ukraine is going to win. They are going to defeat Putin.”
US President Joe Biden has backed plans to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.
But Mr Trump said he would cut a “deal” to “end that war in one day”. Mr DeSantis has said the war is a “territorial dispute”.
United
At a Q&A session at the London Defence Conference in London, Mr Johnson’s successor, Rishi Sunak, warned President Putin that his strategy of waiting it out was “not going to work”.
He said Ukraine will receive western support for “years to come”. Mr Sunak said it was clear the G7 was “united” on supporting the nation against Russian aggression.
He said his message to Mr Putin was: “It’s simple. We’re not going away.”
The UK was leading conversations with allies about longer-term security agreements for Ukraine, Mr Sunak said.
He added that one of the great miscalculations Putin made was that “far from fragmenting allies, it has strengthened them”.
Mr Sunak said: “Defence spending is going up everywhere, including in the UK,” adding this was “good for European security”.
Asked about British Army cuts, Mr Sunak said he would not “second guess” military commanders, and declined to say what size he thought the Army should be.
In the past decade, the Army has shrunk from 97,000 full-time soldiers to 76,000. The Future Soldier plan will see it reduced to 73,000, with an increase in the size of the Army Reserve.