PM: Britain ready to send troops to stop invasion of Ukraine
BRITAIN will send troops to face down Russia’s military might if Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine, Boris Johnson warned yesterday.
In a defiant message to the Kremlin, the Prime Minister confirmed the UK would contribute to ‘any new Nato deployment’ to protect fellow members of the security alliance such as the Baltic states.
His pledge came as others in Nato committed fighter jets and frigates to support the likes of Estonia and Latvia – while the United States is considering sending 50,000 soldiers to the region.
While saying he was willing to speak to President Putin in an attempt to calm current tensions, Mr Johnson also accused his counterpart of eyeing up other former-Soviet nations as well as Ukraine.
‘What Putin basically wants is to go back to the old system of spheres of influence, and it’s not just Ukraine that he has his eye on,’ he told parliament.
Russian TV yesterday broadcast images of its military might holding live firing exercises across the country, including substantial activity in Crimea, annexed by Kremlin forces in 2014 and now in a constant state of war.
Moscow ratcheted up tensions by staging ‘combatready’ checks on 6,000 troops and test-firing deadly missile systems, simulating highly coordinated battle procedures which could be conducted for real.
And Ukraine yesterday said it had already caught Putin’s forces inside its borders, claiming it had dismantled a group of ‘saboteurs’ coordinated by Moscow that was preparing a series of attacks to ‘destabilise’ the situation around the border.
Warning that ‘no one would gain from catastrophe’, Mr Johnson said: ‘The force arrayed on [Ukraine’s] frontier comprises over 100,000 troops – far bigger than anything Russia has deployed against her before. If the worst happens and the destructive firepower of the Russian army were to engulf Ukraine’s towns and cities, I shudder to contemplate the tragedy that would ensue.
‘For months Britain has worked in lockstep with the United States and our allies across Europe to avoid such a disaster. We’ve sought to combine dialogue with deterrence. The British Army leads the Nato battlegroup in Estonia and if Russia invades Ukraine we would look to contribute to any new Nato deployments to protect our allies in Europe.
‘In every contact with Russia, the UK and our allies have stressed our unity and our adherence to vital points of principle. We will not overturn [any] European security order because Russia has placed a gun to Ukraine’s head.
‘If President Putin were to choose the path of bloodshed and destruction, he must realise that it would be both tragic and futile... If Russia pursues this path, many Russian mothers’ sons will not be coming home.’
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Parliament yesterday she is to visit Ukraine next week. Any military incursion by Russia into its neighbour would be ‘a massive strategic mistake’ leading to ‘co-ordinated sanctions’, she added.
It is highly unlikely any regular British troops committed to eastern Europe would deploy to the warzone itself, with the Prime Minister telling parliament: ‘I don’t believe that to be a likely prospect in the near term. Ukraine is not a member of Nato.’ It is likely they would bolster the existing UK and Nato forces in the neighbouring Baltic states.
Putin is due to speak with French president Emmanuel Macron later this week, after ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany sit down in Paris today.
An invasion by the Russian troops currently stationed along Ukraine’s land borders would represent the most challenging military operation mounted by the Kremlin since the assault on Berlin by the Red Army in 1945.
While the Russians would outnumber their Ukrainian adversaries, thanks to Western backing, the defending forces are well equipped and well organised. Ukrainian military units are also highly committed to defending their country and its democratic freedoms.
Covertly deployed British and other Special Forces units would use electronic and cyber warfare to sabotage Russian military hardware and communications too.
Russia expert James Sherr suggested Nato’s united front may have come as an unpleasant surprise to Putin.
Experts also believe the timing of the Winter Olympics in China – due to take place from February 4 to 20 – may also prove significant, as Russia would risk upsetting China if its invasion of Ukraine overshadowed the Games.
It comes as the White House last night said it was working with gas and oil suppliers in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia to support European supplies and so lessen the impact should Russia choose to weaponise prices and delivery. But Joe Biden said that – like Mr Johnson – he could not see US forces moving into Ukraine, with them also set to stay within Nato’s borders.
‘No one gains from catastrophe’