Magical McCartney lights up the Pyramid
Don’t betray Ukraine, Truss warns Macron
LIZ TRUSS has warned leaders such as Emmanuel Macron that the West cannot “sell out Ukraine” for a “quick end” to the war, as she called on G7 and Nato countries to commit more arms and funding to the country.
In a joint article with Dmytro Kuleba, her Ukrainian counterpart, the Foreign Secretary states that Vladimir Putin will “only be serious about negotiations once the Ukrainian people have pushed his troops back”.
The pair add: “The Ukrainian people do not have the luxury to feel fatigued. Nor can the rest of the free world.”
Mr Macron, who has talked of spending 100 hours on the phone to Mr Putin since December, has been accused of wanting Ukraine to make concessions to secure a peace agreement – although the Élysée Palace insists that any deal must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Ms Truss and Mr Kuleba state: “To get peace and protect our way of life, Ukraine and the free world need to stay strong and united.
“We must ignore the defeatist voices who insist people are beginning to tire and who propose to sell out Ukraine for a quick end to the unrelenting horror.”
Boris Johnson is expected to echo Ms Truss’s call when he attends the opening of the G7 conference in Munich today, where President Zelensky will address Western leaders and call for more economic and military support from Western powers. After the speech, Mr Johnson will implore his counterparts to commit long-term support and warn leaders away from thinking about de-escalation of the conflict.
Ms Truss and Mr Kuleba hint that the UK and United States should be closely involved in any peace negotiations when they begin. The Foreign Secretary is thought to be concerned that the 2014 agreement to end the war in Ukraine’s Donbas region, which was mediated by France and Germany, conferred special
Windrush pioneers and their descendants have made to the UK.
The Duke of Cambridge also acknowledged in a strongly worded speech that the Windrush generation had been “profoundly wronged” and suffered racism in Britain that continues to this day.
The Windrush portraits will be undertaken by artists selected by Prince Charles, including several black artists.
It follows similar initiatives in which he commissioned portraits of surviving servicemen to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 2010, pictures of D-Day veterans in 2015 and images of Holocaust survivors in 2020.
At the time, the Prince said the living memorial” of seven of Britain’s remaining Holocaust survivors would stand as a “permanent reminder” of the “depths of depravity” and help to ensure such horror never happened again.
He expressed hope that the “special collection” of paintings would remind the world of “history’s darkest days”.
The new portraits will feature members of the Windrush generation chosen from across the UK by the Windrush
Commemoration Committee led by chair, Baroness Benjamin.
It is hoped that they will be shown together for the first time on Windrush Day 2023 in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, with the exhibition opened by the Prince.
They will become part of the Royal Collection and offered on loan to institutions selected by the heir to the throne in consultation with the Windrush Commemoration Committee.
The Prince said: “The Windrush vessel arrived at Tilbury in the year I was born, inspiring a generation who made this country home. I have always thought of the United Kingdom as a community of communities whose strength is in our diversity and over the last 75 years this generation has made an immeasurable contribution to the society we share.
“That is why [I] wanted to pay my own heartfelt tribute to the role they have played in our nation’s story.”
Lady Benjamin said: “The Prince of Wales has always been a great supporter of Caribbean communities in the UK. In 1998, [he] led the way for national Windrush celebrations with a reception in St James’s Palace and we’re delighted his enduring support will ensure the Nation celebrates together once again for this 75th anniversary”
The Prince’s call for better acknowledgement of the slave trade came after he expressed his sorrow over the “painful history” of slavery, acknowledging that lessons must be learnt in order for the Commonwealth to move forward.
The Prince told Commonwealth leaders in Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday that the roots of the 54-member association “run deep into the most painful period of our history”.