 "'Putin will not outlast us': UK PM Rishi Sunak pledges continuous support for Ukraine")
Pledging continuous support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, United Kingdom’s PM Rishi Sunak has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not outlast the will of the Western nations supporting Ukraine.
In an address on the sidelines of the G-7 Summit in Italy, Sunak listed the British and Western commitments to Ukraine and pledged they were in this with Ukraine “for the long term”.
“Ukraine’s security is our security. We are in this for the long-term. Putin will not outlast us. The UK has committed £3 billion in military aid ever year till the end of the decade. We are dialling up the economic pressure on Russia with 50 new sanctions this week alone and we have just announced £250 million for reconstruction,” said Sunak.
"Ukraine's security is our security. We're in this for the long-term. Putin will not outlast us."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 14, 2024
Rishi Sunak calls a $50bn loan deal for Ukraine agreed by G7 leaders a "historic breakthrough".
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In February 2022, Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. While the initial plan was to score sweeping military victories in Ukraine and occupy the country’s capital Kyiv to overthrow the government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and replace it with a regime supportive of Moscow, the plan failed, and Russia diverted the war-efforts to the eastern parts of the country where the fighting now continues in its third year. In more than two years, millions have been displaced in Russia’s war and scores of towns and villages have been devastated. Russia has also occupied and annexed four regions of Ukraine.
‘Russia must pay for destruction it has caused’
Even as Sunak said that the UK and other Western nations are funding Ukraine’s war and reconstruction, he stressed it should be Russia that should be footing the bill as it’s the Russian war that has caused the devastation.
“As I have long argued, Russia itself must pay for the destruction it has caused and now Russia will pay,” said Sunak.
It was a reference to the $50 billion loan to Ukraine that the G-7 countries have approved. The loan will be repaid from Russian assets frozen by the countries as a result of sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.
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View All“The G-7 has reached a historic breakthrough. After months of intensive discussions, we have agreed on a new loan for Ukraine worth $50 billion, and it will not be repaid by our taxpayers but by extraordinary revenues that come from frozen Russian assets in Europe and around the world. This is just and it is right. But true justice will only come when Russia leaves Ukraine,” said Sunak.
Under the plan, the money will go towards the purchase of weapons and reconstruction. The loan comes at a time when Ukraine has faced a string of defeats for months. Last month, a surprise Russian offensive in the Kharkiv region in Ukraine’s east resulted in the Russian occupation of a number of villages.
While it is not certain which country will contribute how much to the loan, The New York Times has quoted a senior European official as saying that the European Union (EU) could put up around $25-30 billion and the United States and the rest may make up the remainder of the amount.
The war has to end on Ukraine’s terms, says Sunak
Speaking hours after Putin listed his terms for the end of war, Sunak said the Western support for Ukraine will continue till peace comes on Ukraine’s terms. He said peace will not mean Ukraine’s surrender.
The Russia’s war on Ukraine has plunged Europe in the worst security crisis since the World War II as the continent is grappling with questions of collective defence. Even as most of the European countries are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the question of over-reliance on the United States for security, on Russia for energy, and Russia’s main partner China for trade has come to haunt the continent. The European leaders are also grappling with the possibility that Donald Trump, if he is elected as the President of the United States later this year, could pull the plug on US role in Europe and support for Ukraine.
Despite such challenges, Sunak appeared to assure the world of continuing support for Ukraine.
“Putin’s Russia is the aggressor. They brought war to a peaceful continent, wreaked death and destruction on the people of Ukraine, caused famine and hardship around the world, so peace must be based on international law and UN charter, and it must be on Ukraine’s terms. That is what justice looks like. That is what we must work towards. That is how we secure a future for Ukraine that’s peaceful, democratic, and free, and we, the G-7, will stand united with Ukraine until that day comes,” said Sunak.
Previously in April, Sunak had announced that the UK will put its military industry on a “war footing” and increase its defence spending to 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030 amid the unprecedented Russian security threat to Europe. He had also announced British military funding of £500 million in late April to Ukraine.
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