Rishi vows to speed up arms to Ukraine
THE Prime Minister last night promised to fast-track military support to Ukraine as a chief envoy to Volodymyr Zelensky warned delays would cause thousands of deaths.
Rishi Sunak told President Zelensky he is determined to ensure his promised military aid reaches the country as quickly as possible. It came as Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of Ukraine’s parliamentary National Security, Defence and Intelligence Committee, said he was convinced the country would be “completely liberated”.
But he warned that time was of the essence. Hesitation over the sending of fighter jets was an act of “incomprehensible caution, slowness and indecision” by European powers, he said.
Kyiv and Moscow are both racing to build up enough forces and equipment to seize and hold new territory in the late summer. Mr
Venislavskyi said delays in the delivering of promised equipment may see Kyiv hampered in mounting a land, sea and air offensive of its own.
Speaking on the back of visits to Germany, Poland and Bulgaria, he said Ukraine was “deeply grateful” for the assistance provided so far, but added: “The main problem during our meetings has
been the political procrastination and excessive caution with which our Western partners are providing the weapons we need.
“This, unfortunately, has been happening since the beginning of the war.
“Decisions to provide us with much-needed military-technical assistance are delayed by at least three to four months. In the meantime, Russia is intensively accumulating
forces and funds for another offensive on our soil.
“That is why we have always emphasised how the time we have wasted is working against us.”
He confirmed that a large-scale counterattack by the Ukrainian armed forces will “undoubtedly take place in the short term and will completely liberate our citizens in our temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea.” But the timing of this depended on the availability of “sufficient weaponry required for this purpose”.
“Yet, we observe... the same incomprehensible caution, the same slowness and indecision.
“And this means additional thousands of killed and wounded Ukrainians, both servicemen and civilians – children, women, the elderly.”
Mr Sunak told Mr Zelensky that Ukrainian troops in the UK have begun training this week on Challenger 2 main battle tanks.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “Both leaders agreed that it was vital that international partners accelerated their assistance to Ukraine to help seize the opportunity to push Russian forces back, as well as looking at how they could support the long-term capability of Ukraine’s armed forces.”
Meanwhile, the bodies of British aid workers Chris Parry, 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, 48, were due to be handed back to their families as part of a 116-strong prisoner exchange with Russia.
The pair were killed last month while heading to the town of Soledar where heavy fighting was reported.
They were trying to rescue an elderly woman when their car was hit by an artillery shell.