‘Appalling human toll of an invasion’
Stark warning from Truss as Russian air force engages in a dramatic show of strength on border with Ukraine
FOREIGN Secretary Liz Truss has warned the Kremlin that invading Ukraine would lead to ‘a protracted conflict with an appalling human toll’, as tensions continue to mount in the region.
In a letter to all MPs, which has been seen by The Mail on Sunday, Ms Truss said that she had told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during her diplomatic shuttle to Moscow on Thursday that the UK ‘stands fully behind Ukraine and its right to self-determination’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last week that a potential nuclear war could break out if Ukraine is allowed to join Nato.
But Ms Truss – who was mocked by Russian media for apeing Margaret Thatcher’s fur-hatted appearance in the Russian capital in 1987 – said she did ‘not accept the zero sum argument that improving the security of one country harms the security of another, as Russia is claiming’.
The Foreign Secretary wrote of her four hours of talks: ‘I urged Russia to desist from its brazen aggression towards Ukraine, withdraw its troops massing on the Ukrainian border and engage in meaningful talks based on the proposals put forward by Nato. Russia is self-evidently not under a security threat.’
In a stark warning of the potential consequences of military action, Ms Truss said: ‘Ukraine would fight, resulting in a protracted conflict with an appalling human toll.
It is understood Parliament will be recalled if there is an invasion next week, while MPs are on recess.
Last night, her words were echoed by US President Joe Biden, who in a phone call to Mr Putin warned that the consequences of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine would be ‘swift and severe’, and that America and its allies ‘will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs’.
A spokesman for the White House said Mr Biden was ‘clear with President Putin that while the US remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios’. Ms Truss’s comments were revealed as the first British families began to arrive back in the UK.
Thousands of British, American and other European citizens have been told to get out of Ukraine while they still can because there will be no military evacuation in the wake of a Russian attack.
However, Melinda Simmons, the British Ambassador to Ukraine, made clear that the embassy would remain open and that she would be staying in the capital, Kiev.
Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also called on Washington to share publicly intelligence which suggests Russia is planning to invade his country on Wednesday.
He told the US: ‘If you have 100 per cent-certain information about a Russian invasion of Ukraine, please share it with us.’
The intelligence being studied by Mr Biden is said to include the specific routes which might be taken by Russian units.
But claims of an imminent Russian invasion were dismissed as an ‘alarmist’ symptom of US ‘hysteria’ by Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
‘The White House’s hysteria is more revealing than ever,’ she said.
‘The Anglo-Saxons need a war. At all cost. The provocations, disinformation and threats are their favourite method for resolving their own problems.’
Ms Zakharova also revealed that Russia was reducing diplomatic staff in Ukraine because it feared ‘provocations’ from the Kiev authorities or ‘third countries’.
Defence experts suspect Russia could use the excuse of an ‘attack’ on a pro-Russian area of Ukraine as an excuse to send in troops.
Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Defence Select Committee, branded the crisis ‘our Cuban missile crisis moment’ as he called for British-led Nato divisions to be in the country. The Conservative MP said: ‘An invasion is imminent. Once that happens, because of the grain the comes out of Ukraine for the world, that will affect food prices.
‘Oil and gas prices will be affected, and European security will then be threatened further, so we have to ask, what should we do instead?
‘What are the calculations, and yes, there is this looking Putin in the eye wondering what would
‘An invasion is imminent. This is our Cuban missile crisis moment’
‘There’s a whiff of Munich in the air from some’
happen. This is our Cuban missile crisis moment.’
Last night, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace dismissed lastminute Western diplomatic efforts to stop Russian aggression as effective appeasement, saying there was a ‘whiff of Munich in the air’.
Warning that Russia could ‘launch an offensive at any time’, Mr Wallace said: ‘It may be that he [Putin] just switches off his tanks and we all go home but there is a whiff of Munich in the air from some in the West.’
Ms Truss also spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday to say it was ‘vital allies are united in our response to Russia’ and that Britain plays a leading role.
A Foreign Office source said Ms Truss’s talks with Mr Lavrov ‘were robust, but Liz delivered her messages and didn’t pull any punches’.
‘She left Lavrov in no doubt of Britain’s position,’ they added.
‘An invasion would have catastrophic consequences for Russia and backfire on the Kremlin.’