Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss has said Britain and other Western powers should provide warplanes to Ukraine as part of long-term military support.

In a major speech in London, Mrs. Truss argued that the West “must be prepared for the long haul and double-down on our support” for the country. Mrs. Truss in her delivery, told an audience at Mansion House, in the City of London, that “the fate of Ukraine remains in the balance” and that the West “cannot be complacent“.

“If Putin succeeds there will be untold further misery across Europe and terrible consequences across the globe. We would never feel safe again. Heavy weapons, tanks, aeroplanes, digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this.”
Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss

Since the Russian invasion began on Thursday, February 24, 2022, Ukraine has repeatedly asked allies to supply heavy armaments such as aeroplanes and tanks to defend itself. However, NATO provided mostly only lighter weaponry amid fears of escalation.

A Message from Downing Street

Later, Downing Street noted that the government would not rule out training Ukrainian pilots or sending British jets to Eastern Europe to “backfill” for allies who supply jets to Kyiv. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said “Whilst there are no plans to send things like planes from the UK, certainly we want to work with other countries to ensure that Ukraine has the equipment that it needs”.

Mrs. Truss also reiterated a call for a boost in UK’s defence spending. But Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said the speech by Mrs. Truss “appears to be an admission of failure after more than a decade of decline” in the government’s commitment to defence and security.

In another discussion, when the Former Foreign Secretary, who is now the Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, was asked if he backed calls by Mrs. Truss to send planes to support Ukraine against Russia, Mr. Raab refused to respond. But he told reporters that “We need to listen very carefully to what the Ukrainians need.”

What Incited the Speech?

The speech came after Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, confirmed his country had sent tanks to Ukraine. Germany also pledged to send about 50 anti-aircraft tanks.

Considering her demand for more defence spending back home in the UK, Mrs Truss argued that NATO’s target of 2% of GDP, which the UK met last year (2021), should be “a floor, not a ceiling”. She averred there has been a “generation of under-investment” in the West, and the Russian invasion has shown “the architecture that was designed to guarantee peace and prosperity has failed Ukraine”.

Labour’s David Lammy disclosed that: “The Conservatives wrongly de-emphasised European security in the Integrated Review, made deep cuts to the British army over many years, gave up soft power through cutting development, and hurt alliances with Europe and the United States, including risking peace in Northern Ireland.”

Earlier Tuesday, April 26, 2022, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said he would be happy for Ukrainian Forces to use British-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia to protect themselves. But this week, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, pointed out that by arming Ukraine, NATO already “entered into a war with Russia through proxies”.