Britain can send tanks to Poland so that Warsaw can supply Ukraine with its own Soviet-era armored vehicles, Boris Johnson said on Friday, while a Russian general said Moscow wanted full control of southern Ukraine.
The prime minister outlined plans for a new long-term “security guarantee” for Ukraine after the end of the war, which will suspend NATO membership but be firm enough to deter Moscow from invading again.
The guarantee “will ensure that their territory is so fortified that it is impregnable,” the prime minister said.
But this would not repeat the principle of NATO’s Article 5 that an attack on one member is an attack on all, depriving Kyiv of the shield of Western military action in the event of a future attack.
Rustam Minekayev, a Russian commander, was quoted by state media on Friday as saying that full control of southern Ukraine would give it access to the breakaway part of Moldova’s western-occupied part of the West.
This would cut off the entire coast of Ukraine and mean pushing hundreds of miles west beyond the current lines, past the great Ukrainian cities of Nikolaev and Odessa.
In addition, it goes beyond the supposed focus on securing only eastern regions such as Donbass. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.
As the focus of the war shifts away from Kyiv, Mr Johnson also said the UK would reopen its embassy in the capital next week in support of the Ukrainian people.
But he accepted the grim recent assessment by Western defense officials that the war could drag on until the end of 2023 and end with Putin, who could claim victory.
Sending Challenger 2 tanks to Poland to “fill” T-72s delivered to Ukrainians would be close to crossing the line that Mr Johnson has been closely monitoring so far, only to provide a defense kit to avoid accusations. in provoking Moscow.
An application has not yet been received from Warsaw, but it is understood that delivery can be arranged within days if required.
Observers speculate that the bold proposal appears to be an attempt by the prime minister to divert attention from his grief at Downing Street parties, which overshadowed his two-day trip to India.
In talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, Mr Johnson made no attempt to persuade the Indian prime minister to condemn Putin, in what was seen as an effort to avoid jeopardizing a planned free trade agreement, which he said he wanted ” to be done by Diwali ”in October.
Indian Foreign Minister Harsh Vardhan Shringla later said that Johnson had not “pressured” Modi to relinquish his neutral stance on the war, prompting India to abstain from key votes condemning Russia at the UN.
But Mr Johnson told a news conference at the end of the visit that Modi had assured him that he had asked Putin several times in private conversations “what the hell he thinks he’s doing and where he thinks it’s going”.
Covering the deep differences over Ukraine between London and Delhi – which is calling for a ceasefire and diplomatic dialogue – Mr Johnson said: “What the Indians want is peace and they want the Russians to leave, and I totally agree with that.”
Appearing with Modi earlier, the prime minister avoided wasting his hosts’ feathers by not mentioning Russia or Ukraine at all in a seven-minute statement, saying only that “autocratic coercion” around the world makes it important for democracies to work closely together.
It has entered into a “new and expanded” defense and security partnership that will facilitate UK arms exports to India and provide UK expertise in developing Indian fighter jets.
But he acknowledged fears expressed by the Russian Defense Trust that Western components – including some made in the UK – had been used in Russian weapons after being laundered through countries such as India, telling reporters that Britain should “Take steps to ensure that these things do not go the other way to Russia.”
Mr Johnson, who had previously insisted that the Russian president “should fail” in his military adventure, agreed that a protracted war ending with Putin, claiming victory at least in southern and eastern Ukraine, is now ” realistic possibility “.
Mr Johnson said: “Putin has a huge army. He has a very difficult political position because he has made a catastrophic blunder.
“The only opportunity he has now is to keep trying to use his horrific, artillery-driven approach to trying to crush the Ukrainians.
“No matter what military superiority Vladimir Putin may achieve in the next few months – I agree, it may be a long time – he will not be able to capture the spirit of the Ukrainian people. This is a noticeable fact.
“On the contrary, what he is doing strengthens this will to resist the people of Ukraine.
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