Today, Ukrainians celebrate their Independence Day, as our King has noted, praising “unbreakable courage and spirit of the Ukrainian people”. On August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Today it is fighting a bitter battle to preserve that independence, which the tyrant Putin would destroy. The very words “independence day” should have a special resonance for Americans: but it has emerged that the US, yet again, has been forcing the Ukrainians to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.
As the Telegraph reports, the US has now been blocking Ukraine from firing long-range missiles into Russia for several months. A similar American ban was abandoned under the previous President, Joe Biden, but it has reportedly been re-instituted on the orders of Trump Defense official Elbridge Colby. The ban affects not only US missiles, principally the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) but also other weapons such as the mostly-French, partly-British Storm Shadow, which is reliant on US-provided targeting data and supplementary US systems such as the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) to be effective.
It is all too clear that the US does not want to lean in to this fight. The top EU diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is spot on when she says that Putin got everything in his wildest dreams from the Alaska Summit. He has no interest in peace and now that President Trump appears to have lost interest in the peace process, the only way to progress is if European leaders now do the heavy lifting.
At least the UK, Germany and France are leading the way to put together a substantial military force to police a peace deal if and when it comes. Some armchair warriors however are suggesting that the British Army is not up to this task. But as an armchair warrior myself, who is out of his seat more than most as an active reservist, I completely refute these claims. The British Army I see on a week-to-week basis is highly motivated, well led, well trained – by Ukrainian instructors in drone warfare, which they know far more about than we do – and good kit, with off the shelf equipment becoming increasingly available. There are more young people wanting to join the Army today than ever in the last two decades according to Serco, recently awarded the Armed Forces recruitment contract.
Is this the Munich 1939 moment where Trump – Chamberlain-like – returns from talks with the aggressor brandishing some vague promises from the current tyrant wanting to subjugate Europe? Where is the modern-day Churchill who will challenge the appeaser?
When Chamberlain returned to Parliament and defended his abject surrender by saying he had faced a choice between “peace and war”, Churchill demolished him.
“You were given a choice between honour and dishonour,” said Winston. “You chose dishonour, and you will have war.”
“Two Tier Keir,” by contrast, is struggling with everything. Does Europe have the guts and gumption to flex our only muscle that Putin will notice?
This enlarged war is in its fourth year. If Putin had at least signified he was not still chasing his maximalist aims, then perhaps we should give Trump some slack? But there is no sign of any compromise from the Kremlin. Trump may actually be prolonging the war and making the situation worse. He appears to be only interested in commercial and economic deals, and completely out of his depth when it comes to war and peace. Even Trump must now realise that Putin cares nothing for such weak western capitalism.
At least Trump has one thing right, that it’s up to Europe and Zelensky now. We must hope that as our hour comes, the leaders we need will emerge too – as Zelensky did, and Churchill before him.
Today, Ukrainians celebrate their Independence Day, as our King has noted, praising “unbreakable courage and spirit of the Ukrainian people”. On August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Today it is fighting a bitter battle to preserve that independence, which the tyrant Putin would destroy. The very words “independence day” should have a special resonance for Americans: but it has emerged that the US, yet again, has been forcing the Ukrainians to fight with one hand tied behind their backs.
As the Telegraph reports, the US has now been blocking Ukraine from firing long-range missiles into Russia for several months. A similar American ban was abandoned under the previous President, Joe Biden, but it has reportedly been re-instituted on the orders of Trump Defense official Elbridge Colby. The ban affects not only US missiles, principally the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) but also other weapons such as the mostly-French, partly-British Storm Shadow, which is reliant on US-provided targeting data and supplementary US systems such as the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) to be effective.
It is all too clear that the US does not want to lean in to this fight. The top EU diplomat, Kaja Kallas, is spot on when she says that Putin got everything in his wildest dreams from the Alaska Summit. He has no interest in peace and now that President Trump appears to have lost interest in the peace process, the only way to progress is if European leaders now do the heavy lifting.
At least the UK, Germany and France are leading the way to put together a substantial military force to police a peace deal if and when it comes. Some armchair warriors however are suggesting that the British Army is not up to this task. But as an armchair warrior myself, who is out of his seat more than most as an active reservist, I completely refute these claims. The British Army I see on a week-to-week basis is highly motivated, well led, well trained – by Ukrainian instructors in drone warfare, which they know far more about than we do – and good kit, with off the shelf equipment becoming increasingly available. There are more young people wanting to join the Army today than ever in the last two decades according to Serco, recently awarded the Armed Forces recruitment contract.
Is this the Munich 1939 moment where Trump – Chamberlain-like – returns from talks with the aggressor brandishing some vague promises from the current tyrant wanting to subjugate Europe? Where is the modern-day Churchill who will challenge the appeaser?
When Chamberlain returned to Parliament and defended his abject surrender by saying he had faced a choice between “peace and war”, Churchill demolished him.
“You were given a choice between honour and dishonour,” said Winston. “You chose dishonour, and you will have war.”
“Two Tier Keir,” by contrast, is struggling with everything. Does Europe have the guts and gumption to flex our only muscle that Putin will notice?
This enlarged war is in its fourth year. If Putin had at least signified he was not still chasing his maximalist aims, then perhaps we should give Trump some slack? But there is no sign of any compromise from the Kremlin. Trump may actually be prolonging the war and making the situation worse. He appears to be only interested in commercial and economic deals, and completely out of his depth when it comes to war and peace. Even Trump must now realise that Putin cares nothing for such weak western capitalism.
At least Trump has one thing right, that it’s up to Europe and Zelensky now. We must hope that as our hour comes, the leaders we need will emerge too – as Zelensky did, and Churchill before him.