– It is a fact that Ukraine is not a member of NATO, so it is unlikely that anyone would send troops to Ukraine to challenge Russia in such a scenario. I think this is clear. We should not deceive people that this is going to happen, and the Ukrainians are aware of it, Wallace said in an interview published on Saturday with the weekly The Spectator.
As the magazine reports, Wallace has so far been very vague about the scope of British aid to Ukraine, saying only that we can activate “defensive capabilities” against Vladimir Putin. The Spectator estimates that in the face of this new announcement, the strongest British military response will be to sell arms to Ukraine.
We haven’t entered the field of lethal aid yet. Wallace added: “We are constantly exploring all possibilities.
When asked if this meant that Ukraine was on its own, the defense minister replied: “We can all help build capabilities, but to some extent, Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and therefore, diplomatically, together, we are doing everything we can to tell the president Putin: Don’t do that. He noted that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other Western leaders in talks with Putin warned him this week that in the event of aggression against Ukraine, Russia is threatened with deep and dangerous economic sanctions with long-term consequences.
Britain’s defense minister said there was debate among Western leaders over whether Putin would actually invade and how quickly Russia would occupy Ukraine. The Russian military grouping has a purpose. We are not sure that Putin made his decision, but his actions and military preparations show it. Wallace admitted, I think we should all be concerned.
On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued its demands for a “security guarantee” from NATO in exchange for the withdrawal of troops from the Ukrainian border. Even more important is the Alliance’s commitment not to accept it as members of countries that were once part of the Soviet Union, or to deploy its forces there.
