James Cleverly says arming Kyiv is the only path to peace as he urges allies to send jets to war-torn region
- Cleverly said he thinks Putin responds only to strength in his opponents
- He argued Ukrainians need the tools they need to finish the year-long conflict
- Read: Ukraine’s defence minister issues fresh request to western allies for jets
Arming Ukraine is ‘the only path to peace’, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said yesterday, as Kyiv stepped up calls for the West to send warplanes.
Writing in a Maltese newspaper ahead of a visit to the island, Mr Cleverly said: ‘Like all authoritarian rulers, Putin responds only to strength in his opponents. Giving Ukrainians the tools they need to finish the job is the swiftest – indeed the only – path to peace.’
It came as Ukraine’s defence minister expressed confidence that Western allies will agree to Kyiv’s request for fighter jets. Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine had already had everything from its ‘wish list to Santa’, bar jets. ‘There will be planes, too,’ Mr Reznikov predicted.
So far, Ukraine has won support from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to obtain Western jets. But several Western leaders fear that providing them could draw their countries deeper into the conflict.
Since the war began, some heads of state initially balked at some of Kyiv’s requests, such as for longer-range missiles and tanks, only to agree later.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: ‘Like all authoritarian rulers, Putin responds only to strength in his opponents’
Kyiv says jets are essential to challenging Russia’s air superiority and ensuring success in an expected Russian spring offensive that Mr Reznikov predicted could begin around the war’s one-year anniversary, February 24.
‘Not all western weapons will arrive by then, but we have the resources and reserves to help stabilise and sustain the offensive,’ Mr Reznikov told reporters.
The Kremlin has said western countries’ supply of increasingly sophisticated and more weapons will only prolong the conflict, and it has characterised Nato as a direct participant.
Mr Reznikov, commenting on the supply of western weapons and the state of the Ukrainian army, took the rhetoric further, telling reporters: ‘I absolutely boldly claim that we have become a de facto Nato country. We only have a de jure part left.’
The defence minister also pledged not to use longer-range weapons pledged by the US to hit Russian territory, saying they would only target Russian forces in occupied Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine has applied to join Nato, as have two of Russia’s other neighbours, Finland and Sweden.
On the battlefield, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said four people were injured yesterday[SUN] when a Russian S-300 missile fell near an apartment block in Kharkiv city, and another was hurt when a missile hit a university building.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting continued in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, one of four regions that Russia illegally annexed last year even though its forces do not fully control the area.
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