Ben Wallace rules out enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine
投稿日 : 2022年3月9日 |
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Ben Wallace today declared Vladimir Putin is a ‘spent force in the world’ and the invasion of Ukraine will be the Russian President’s ‘end’.
The Defence Secretary said Mr Putin’s attack is ultimately doomed to fail because of the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian people and cloud-i-girl.com occupying such a large country against its will is an ‘impossible task’.
The Cabinet minister said Mr Putin’s actions mean ‘he is done’ and ‘no one will be taking his phone calls in the long term’.
Meanwhile, Mr Wallace again ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine as he said an email from a worried 10-year-old girl illustrated how high the stakes are following Russia’s invasion.
The Defence Secretary said he had been contacted by a child who told him ‘how frightened she was of ‘.
Mr Wallace said the UK must be ‘realistic’ about how it can help Ukraine, with ministers having to strike a ‘difficult balance’ of offering support without triggering a wider conflict with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr has repeatedly asked the West to enforce a no-fly zone but the UK has ruled out the move because it would pit NATO fighter jets against Russian fighter jets - a situation which could easily spiral into all-out war.
Mr Wallace questioned how effective a no-fly zone would be in helping Ukraine because while no country would be able to fly in the area, forces like Russia ‘with overwhelming artillery and missile batteries will be able to continue’.
He also said the UK will not be supplying fighter jets to Ukraine but would support Poland if it chooses to do so.
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Ben Wallace today ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine as he said an email from a worried 10-year-old girl illustrated how high the stakes are following Russia’s invasion
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly asked the West to enforce a no-fly zone
Russia has now committed all of the forces it massed on the Ukrainian border before the invasion, and has made only limited territorial gains – capturing just one major city, Kherson. Others, including Sumy and Kyiv, are slowly being surrounded but in some places the Ukrainians have managed to thwart Russian attacks or successfully counter-attack
Mr Wallace was asked this morning during an interview on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme how he believes the conflict could end and he set out two potential scenarios.
The first would see Russian forces become so ‘depleted’ that the invasion ‘grinds to a halt’ while the second would see Moscow attempt to impose its ‘total will’ on the country.
Mr Wallace said he does not believe the second scenario is viable because Mr Putin would be unable to meet the cost of decades of occupation.
‘You try occupying a country the size of France and Germany put together with [a population of] 44 million,’ he said.
The Defence Secretary slammed Mr Putin’s decision to invade as he said: ‘This will be Putin’s end, this country, and so it should be, because of not only their spirit and their moral component that they have on their side, the Ukrainians, but also because it will be an impossible task to occupy such a people and a country.’
The Defence Secretary said the Russian President’s actions had left Moscow cut-off from much of the rest of the world.
‘Whatever we think about President Putin, he is done, he is a spent force in the world,’ he said.
‘No one will be taking his phone calls in the long term.
He has exhausted his army, he is responsible for thousands of Russian soldiers being killed, responsible for innocent people being killed, civilians being killed in Ukraine.
Russia has today offered to reopen ‘humanitarian corridors’ for civilians to flee besieged cities which has been dismissed as little more than a PR stunt by Kyiv because routes, most of which lead to Russia, have been attacked
An elderly woman placed in a shopping trolley is carried over a destroyed bridge as she is evacuated from the city of Irpin, west of Kyiv, as snow falls on Tuesday morning
A police officer says goodbye to his son as his family flees from advancing Russian troops as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues in the town of Irpin
‘He is reducing his economy to zero because the international community has decided it is absolutely unacceptable what he does and so he is a spent force in the world.
‘I don’t know whether he thinks that’s a clever thing to be, but that diminishes his own country in the world and he has to take responsibility for that.’
Mr Wallace was challenged on the no-fly zone issue this morning during an interview on BBC Breakfast.
Explaining the risks of taking such a step, he said: ‘I got an email from a 10-year-old, a girl, the other day, into my account saying how frightened she was of nuclear war.
‘I think we have to be realistic.
I have a difficult balance to take which is triggering a wider war and protecting the people of Ukraine.
‘That is not an easy balance, it is a responsibility.’
Heavy snow falls as Ukrainian civilians flee across a river in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, where heavy fighting is going on
Ukrainian servicemen inspect a charred Russian tank that was destroyed on the outskirts of Sumy, eastern Ukraine
Mr Wallace was played a clip from a Ukrainian MP asking NATO to enforce a no-fly zone above the country.
The Defence Secretary said: ‘The MP you have just quoted, she talked about Russian missiles.
Russian missiles are not affected by no-fly zones.
‘Russia has an overwhelming stock of missiles and artillery and neither of those would be stopped by a no-fly zone because you would also be stopping Ukrainian aircraft.
‘The few weapons that the Ukrainians have to hit artillery at depth and indeed missile launchers at depth is by air.
‘If you have a no-fly zone, no one is flying.
But forces with overwhelming artillery and missile batteries will be able to continue and I think that is part of the problem that unless you want to deal with this through another means which is more anti-air, there are systems that can defeat missiles as well as aircraft and drones and some of those have already been supplied to the Ukrainians, the Stinger missile for example can bring down a range of weapon systems.
‘We will look at whether there are any other weapons systems that can do that.
But I think that as she said in her own description, it is the missiles and the artillery that are causing this mass destruction and that would not be affected by a no-fly zone.
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‘What I suspect really is what the Ukrainians quite rightly want is effectively someone to remove the Russian aircraft from the equation but allow them to keep flying and I think that is a perfectly legitimate ask and we think we can do that in a different way which is providing anti-air capability to the Ukrainians.’
The row over the no-fly zone continued to rumble on as the US and Poland work on a deal to supply Ukraine with fighter jets.
The deal would see Poland supply Ukraine with Russian-made MiG-29 aircraft, while the US would then supply Warsaw with US-made F-16s as replacements.
Mr Wallace said the UK could not directly supply fighter jets to Ukraine because of technological differences.
He said: ‘The United Kingdom couldn’t supply jets directly to Ukraine.
We don’t have the same type of fighter jets. They fly sort of MiG-29s and others.
‘But I think there are about three countries in Europe who do possess Mig-29s. I think our view would be look, it is for Poland on a bilateral basis to decide whether to support Ukraine.
