UK to play key role in stopping Putin invading Ukraine for 3rd time | UK | News
Britain will lead backroom talks to discuss arming Ukraine once hostilities with Russia are ended, sources said last night.
It centres on concerns that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will use any ceasefire that may be brokered by US President Donald Trump in coming months to reconstitute his battered armed forces before attempting a third invasion of Ukraine.
Military chiefs specialising in areas of land defence and small arms combat will gather at next month’s Future Solid Technology 2025 conference in London, where they will meet with Colonel Vadym Slyusar from Ukraine‘s Arms Institute.
The conference, organised by SAE media group, will focuses on equipping soldiers to fight on the modern battlefield.
Behind the scenes, however, informal meetings will take place between key figures to assess Ukraine’s needs “for the day after” fighting formally ends.
“It is the backroom talks which will be crucial in helping Ukraine to assess what it requires and how best the UK and allies can deliver this,” said a Whitehall source last night.
The Ministry of Defence will be represented by Paul Lincoln, Second Permanent Secretary whose task is to prepare a report on Ukraine‘s requirements for the Defence Secretary.
He will be joined by Major General Chris Barry, the UK’s Director of Land Warfare and Col Paul Cummings, Dismounted Close Combat Portfolio Leader with the Defence Equipment and Support agency (DE&S).
Those attending will also include key military figures from Nato, France and Australia.
Russian forces stalled in the year after the invasion but have since recovered, taking hundreds of miles of Ukrainian territory last year, albeit at great cost.
Last month Russia lost 7,000 troops in its attempt to retake Ukraine‘s eastern hub city of Pokrovsk – more than during its entire 10-year Second Chechen War, where it lost 6,000 Russian soldiers.
President Donald Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine, and the Kremlin last week confirmed that backchannel talks were already underway.
“There are indeed contacts between individual departments, and they have intensified recently, but I cannot tell you any other details,” Putin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said.
President Trump said the US was having “very constructive talks on Ukraine”.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that he will not accept talks that don’t include Ukraine.
“First of all, we have to manage our meeting and our own plans with the US, Europe, European leaders, our partners,” he said recently.
“We have to have a common agenda between us, then share it even with the enemy, step by step.”
One option being discussed is the potential deployment of an international force, including Britain and France, to guarantee that Russia would not attack again following a peace deal.
But President Zelensky has dismissed any plan which does not involve US forces.
“It could very well be Russia‘s desire to see Europe defending and supporting Ukraine without the US. That would give Russia an advantage, and I believe it could amount to a geopolitical and strategic win for them.”
The core issue is a lack of trust that Russia will honour any agreement.
“There are serious concerns in Kyiv that a ceasefire without a major security agreement involving numerous European decision makers and Moscow, will merely be Russia as an opportunity to reconstitute its military and try once again for a third invasion of Ukraine,” said Alexander Lord of the Sibylline strategic risk group.
He added: “This is now a ten-year war, and neither Russia’s objectives in Ukraine not its broader security priorities for the region have changed.
“I’d be very surprised if these these talks were not taking place. Ukraine needs a credible deterrent in the form of a strong conventional Ukrainian military.”
To that end, the UK has already supplied thousands of weapons to help Ukraine fend off Russian forces. Most reently, these include 16 AS90 artillary guns and 10,000 state-of-the-art drones, as part of the Govrnmet’s pledge to give Kyiv £3bn in miliary aid every year for ‘as long as it takes”.