British diplomacy chief James Cleverly said on Tuesday that his country had sent tanks into Ukraine to push back the Russians in the east and south of that country, a decision that angered Moscow.
“The message we send to Putin (…) is that we are committed to supporting the Ukrainians until they are victorious,” Cleverly declared during a visit to Washington.
“What Putin has to understand is that we will have the strategic stamina to stand by them until the task is completed, and that the best thing he can do to preserve the lives of his own soldiers is to recognize it,” he added. Cleverly during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The cost will be much higher in human lives and money if we let this war drag on.”
Military aid to Ukraine was one of the main topics of conversation today between the British minister and his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, who applauded the sending of British tanks to Kiev, without revealing whether the United States will do the same.
Washington provides most of Western aid to Ukraine, about $25 billion for security, but has reservations about delivering heavy tanks to Kiev for training and maintenance reasons.
Blinken reiterated the United States’ determination to “get Ukraine into the battlefield with what it needs”, the “fastest way” to end the war, almost a year after the beginning of the Russian invasion, on February 24, 2022.
Cleverly today began a tour of the United States and Canada, days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to deliver 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Kiev, in what will be the first delivery of Western-made heavy tanks to Ukraine.
“We recognize that they need a strong defense capability in the east and south”, both regions that Russia has tried to control since invading Ukraine, stressed the British chancellor. “If Putin believed for a moment that the world would get tired of Ukraine, he has made a huge error in judgment.”
