Ukraine’s President thanks Britain, Johnson and Sunak and tells MPs and peers that “we know freedom will win. We know Russia will lose.”
The Ukrainian President transformed the atmosphere at Westminster, uniting past British heroes with the present heroes fighting to evict his country’s invaders.
The Prime Minister also confirms “we will continue to support Ukraine to ensure a decisive military victory on the battlefield this year.”
The universally hawkish attitude of British elites rests on shaky assumptions about the progress of the war and America’s priorities.
With Britain’s credibility in Kyiv unparalleled, we are best-placed to raise the question of how this war might end, with an eye to Russia’s stability and re-integration into the international system.
As I crossed the border after three days that I will never forget, I felt a mixture of despair, admiration and optimism.
Iranians have risen in rebellion against the petro-dictators of the Islamic Republic.
Conservative MPs, peers, donors, hacks and activists caper their way towards an open grave, with Johnson himself leading the procession. The dance possesses them; it has a momentum of its own; they are powerless to stop.
Support for Ukraine must not waver, but we must not be blind to the risks – but instead seek to manage them as best we can.
On the one hand, conscription, with the failure it would confirm, would be perilous for Putin. On the other, stalled Ukrainian progress, a Russian economic squeeze – and western division.
Since at least 2008, he has been striving to ‘Make Russia Great Again’ through the old Tsarist gambit of ‘strategic depth.’
The country faces a $600 billion bill for infrastructure damage and 100 soldiers dying a day. It cannot fight indefinitely.
The recent drive, apparently coordinated between Paris and Berlin, to push Ukraine for a compromise settlement must be resisted.
We need action. And we need ministers who understand how to exercise power. They need to use that power to take decisions and make sure they are implemented.