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Ukraine is winning, so let's give it all the tools it needs to get the job done

2023-10-08 19:01:00, Blog Ben Wallace

Ukraine is winning, so let's give it all the tools it needs to get the job

Whisper if you need to. Dare to think about it. In any case, the fact is that Ukraine's counteroffensive has begun to succeed. Slowly but surely, the Ukrainian armed forces are managing to break through the Russian defense lines.

Sometimes yard by yard, sometimes village by village, Ukraine is the side that is bearing the brunt of this war and moving forward. The men and women of the Ukrainian military are once again showing us at NATO how much we have underestimated them.

First, the alliance establishment doubted their ability to defend the country from the initial phase of the invasion. Many states were waiting to see which way the wind would blow. Many experts wrote sitting in front of their computers and referring to the "Russian experience", that the Ukrainians could only resist for a few weeks.

After being proven wrong, they switched to pessimism about the Ukrainian counterattack. But they failed to understand the importance of the human factor. They failed to recognize in the Ukrainians the same spirit that we had in 1939.

They didn't remember Alan Turing's quote that " Sometimes it's the people no one can imagine they'll do that do the things no one can imagine ". They failed to understand that in a war, the most precious material of all is hope.

Since the summer of this year, Ukraine has learned a lot. Its forces are adapting tactics, quickly absorbing lessons from the battlefield, and making the most of the equipment we've all sent them. They receive weapons from Great Britain and also successes that are far beyond initial expectations.

I remember visiting a secret base outside Ukraine as we were training Ukrainian soldiers on how to use StarStreak air defense missiles. They had a week to learn. A British sergeant pointed to a young Ukrainian man who had just passed his teenage years.

"He won't let go of the simulator and won't stop training until he never loses," he told me.

And the young man shot down 2 Russian attack helicopters. When hope is combined with the right equipment, nothing can stop Ukraine.

It is therefore our duty to maintain this hope, and to support it with funds and equipment until victory is achieved. This was why British NLAW anti-tank missiles were so important to the Ukrainian military. They showed that the Russian armored forces could be stopped. And they destroyed hundreds of them who were on their way to Kiev.

We have the chance to help end this war. The Russian army is suffering many cracks. Ukraine has learned new tactics to overcome the terrible minefields, and the "Storm Shadow" attacks are destroying one Russian headquarters after another.

Now we are witnessing the beginnings of the battle for the liberation of Crimea. Under these conditions, we must give Ukraine the support it needs to end it as soon as possible. As Secretary of Defense, I was often faced with many excuses not to do so.

These mostly came from people who didn't know the difference between the top and bottom of a rifle. As a result, a lot of time was lost to overcome the institutional inertia. We should be proud of our Chief of Defense Staff and British military leaders who demonstrated leadership not only within Whitehall but internationally.

Before I left office, I asked the Prime Minister to increase funding from the £2.3bn promised for Ukraine this year, to the £4.6bn we have already spent. The UK is not the biggest donor in Europe.

At the top is Germany. This war can be won. Vladimir Putin is failing. Just as human emotion drives Ukraine to success, it is the inevitable flaw of Putin and his criminal regime. Romanticism, ego and revenge led Putin to learn in Ukraine, and this will bring about his downfall.

His army lost more than 2,500 tanks, 6,500 armored vehicles and nearly 300,000 dead or wounded. Not a single commander who led the main Russian units in Ukraine is still at the front.

Putin is desperately clinging to the last 2 things that can save him: time and the disintegration of the international community. Britain can do something about both. We need to help Ukraine maintain its initiative on the battlefield, and that will require more munitions and long-range systems.

Meanwhile, the best way to keep the international community together is to demonstrate success. Ukraine itself can play its role. The average age of soldiers at the front is over 40 years old. I understand President Zelenski's desire to preserve young people for the future.

But it is a fact that Russia is mobilizing the whole country. Putin knows that a pause will give him time to build a new army. Therefore, as Britain did in 1939 and 1941, I think it may be time to reassess the scale of Ukraine's military mobilization.

Let's not stop right now. The world is paying more attention to whether or not the West has the determination to defend our values ??and rules-based system. What we do now about Ukraine will dictate the direction of our entire security for years to come.

Note: Ben Wallace, former Minister of State for Defense in Great Britain. / "Daily Telegraph" -  Adapted from CNA





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