Ukraine will be able to repel attempts by the Russian army to advance in the Kharkov region, however, Russian advance in this direction became possible, first of all, due to the delay in assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Western countries.
This was stated by British Defense Minister Grant Shapps, speaking in a program on the Sky News channel.
Russian offensive in the Kharkov region
According to him, the delay in providing assistance to Ukraine gave Russia the opportunity for a new offensive.
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— It is a fact that the delay in sending additional assistance (to Ukraine, — Ed.) — and here it is obvious that the US Congress was slow to do so — left a break during which, for example, Putin entered or attempted to enter Kharkov, — he said.
Shapps “confident”that Ukraine will be able to repel the attack, but says there are “some difficult weeks ahead“.
— But this shouldn't have happened, — he adds.
Europe must take a step forward
The British minister added that “Europeans must also step forward”, calling on other European countries to commit to spending 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. which the government says will be done by 2030.
He did not specify whether the UK should change its rules to allow Ukraine to use weapons provided by the United Kingdom across Russia.
Shapps instead called on Germany and other countries to allow the weapons they supply to be used to strike Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
The Minister stressed that the world must realize that there is an existential war going on about how we run the world, about democracy itself.
He, in particular, expressed concern about the rapprochement between Beijing and Moscow and called it a “threat to our way of life” China and Russia's desire to extend their systems of governance to the rest of the world: This worries me very much because, remember, these two countries do not believe in democracy.