PUTIN must have no doubt that “Britain under the Labor Party” will continue to be “Ukraine’s staunchest friend”, declared the new Defense Secretary.
John Healey yesterday embraced war-torn Odessa hero President Volodymyr Zelensky as he promised that all additional military aid promised in April will be delivered within 100 days of Labour’s “guaranteed” takeover of power.
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He insisted that the new government is “fully committed” to increasing UK defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, but that “Britain’s defense starts in Ukraine”.
Healey arrived at the Black Sea port shortly after Sir Keir Starmer’s first Cabinet meeting, as a clear signal to the Kremlin that, far from backpedaling, UK support would be “intensified and accelerated”.
He told The Sun: “At every stage since Putin launched his full-scale invasion, we have supported all military aid… the extra funding has had our full support in the opposition, we will now hand it over to the government.”
And in a direct message to the Russian tyrant, he warned: “Putin expects Western nations to lose patience and lose resolve, he must know that Britain under the Labor Party will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes to win.” .
“We will stand up to Russian aggression and we will pursue him for his war crimes.”
During his first official visit to Ukraine, 48 hours after his appointment, Healey said it was time to “step up” the “special leadership” Britain has already shown since Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Britain has pledged up to £3 billion in assistance to Ukraine this year, including desperately needed missiles, ammunition and vehicles.
He said his “first action” upon arriving at the Ministry of Defense on Friday “was to ask ‘what else can I do to help, how can we accelerate what we have already announced?’”
He warned: “Ukrainians have made a general complaint that they have often still not achieved what was promised by the West.
“They can’t say that about the UK and I’m determined they won’t.”
And he promised; “So the support package, the extra military aid that Sunak announced in April, which will now come with a 100-day guarantee under the Labor Party.
“What was announced in April will be delivered at the end of 100 days of Labor government.”
He added that he “instructed the Ministry of Defense to accelerate the delivery of what was promised” by the previous government.
And he insisted that it could be done, saying; “I’m not going to make promises that we won’t keep, and that will be a hallmark of what starts to happen under a Labor government.”
He told The Sun: “At the first Cabinet meeting, Keir said ‘we know that confidence in the government must be restored. We will do what we say and at the heart of this Labor government must be delivery.
“And politicians can make promises, but in the end they demonstrate to people that they should have confidence in their government, they demonstrate it by what they do.
“So if delivery is at the heart of this government, less than 24 hours after I was appointed, I will be on my way to Ukraine.
“And I’m doing this because we are, and we are proud to be, united in support of Ukraine.”
“We made this promise, as we always have, that we will continue our unwavering support for Ukraine,” he added.
“We are proud of the UK leadership in Ukraine and I have said I want to be proud of the UK leadership within six months.
“So I will play my part in what Keir Starmer has given as our marching orders: putting delivery at the heart of everything we do.”
He said his visit would be “a strong message for Ukraine, a strong message for defense and a strong message for Keir Starmer’s government.”
And instead, there was more to come, saying: “First, we have accelerated the delivery of what we have already announced.
“Secondly, we will move further and see what equipment we can offer the Ukrainians.
“Therefore, I ask the Ministry of Defense to start searching the stockpiles, especially for the kit that Ukrainians use every day in this fight.”
STAYING FIRM
Healey says his message to President Zelensky was “we will give you an extra quarter of a million rounds of heavy ammunition for the machine guns they use to shoot down Iranian drones.”
“We will give you 90 extra Brimstone missiles, the most lethal kit they use to destroy Russian tanks and armored vehicles.
“I will give you 50 boats for the Ukrainian Marines, these are the Marines we trained, so they will use them for attacks in the Black Sea, they will use them for attacks across the Dnipro River.”
“We will also provide 40 new mine clearance rollers so that the huge minefields Putin has laid can be cleared and patrols from Ukraine can cross.
“We have already given Ukraine a lot of AS90 heavy artillery guns, we can find ten more.
“Most importantly, we will provide them with the replacement barrels they need so they can continue shooting.”
And he said that ahead of NATO’s 75th anniversary celebrations in Washington DC next week, it was time to increase work with our allies.
“The importance of this is that we will do our part with the barrels, while the Americans provide the shells,” he added.
“We don’t need to do everything, we need to do what Ukrainians need us most.”
“For the first time in many years, we will also begin producing barrels for these heavy weapons in the UK.”
He added: “The fact that I am now on a plane, demanding action to speed up delivery, putting together an extra military aid package to help Ukraine keep up the fight, demonstrates that at the heart of our defense commitment is a recognition that the defense of Britain begins in Ukraine.
“Part of the special leadership that the UK has demonstrated since Putin’s invasion has been the ability to rally other allies, to do more and to give more.
“And we will see next week, at the NATO summit, the 32 nations also step up their support for Ukraine and, more importantly, make the same kind of long-term commitment to maintain support for Ukraine.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
