Ukraine-Russia war: The West is proving woefully slow at solving critical problem in sending weapons to Kyiv
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s president is said to have turned down a US offer to be evacuated with the words: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”
Two years on, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is still standing firm – but so too is his urgent need for weapons and ammunition, everything from bullets to fighter jets.
The UK and other Western allies rushed in support for the military during the first weeks of the war, with British and American anti-tank missiles playing a key role in enabling Ukrainian troops to fend off a Russian attempt to capture the capital Kyiv.
However, Western willingness to arm Ukraine has consistently lagged behind the requirement, in part because of concerns about giving too much capability and igniting a direct confrontation between NATO and Moscow – two nuclear-armed foes.
A Ukrainian soldier in the frontline village of Robotyne. Pic: Reuters
Those nerves have belatedly eased over time, helped by relentless lobbying by Mr Zelenskyy and an understanding that defending Ukraine is vital for wider European security.
As a result, Ukrainian commanders have received increasingly powerful weapons, from tanks and multiple rocket launchers to longer-range missiles and the promise of warplanes.
A bigger challenge now, though, is the West’s capacity to keep delivering.
Decades of defence cuts in the UK and other European allies since the end of the Cold War, coupled with a reduction in physical production lines to manufacture new weapons and ammunition, mean that stockpiles in Europe in particular are running worryingly low.
Efforts are under way to revive what is known as the military industrial base but they are woefully slow compared to what the Russian side is doing.
Vladimir Putin put his economy on a war-footing, ramping up production of arms, while also striking deals with fellow dictatorships such as Iran and North Korea to import weapons from them.
It means his ability to rearm Russian forces is far greater than the West’s ability to re-equip the Ukrainians, even though the combined strength of the economies of NATO’s 31 – soon to be 32 – member states is some 25 times that of Russia.
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‘We can persuade Americans it matters’
Another major hazard is what direction the United States chooses to take.
By far the biggest and most powerful of Ukraine’s backers, US military support has been fundamental to Kyiv’s war-effort.
Joe Biden is clear that maintaining this assistance is vital, not just for Ukraine, but for the wider democratic world.
However, domestic political rows in the US Congress have held up the approval of a key funding package. There is also uncertainty about upcoming US elections and what a potential second Donald Trump presidency might mean for future support for Ukraine.
Entering his third year of full-scale war, Mr Zelenskyy will need to intensify the pressure even further on his allies to turn words of solidarity into more weapons.
Summing up the dilemma at a conference in Munich this month, he said: “Please do not ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourself: ‘Why is Putin still able to continue it?'”
More than 100 politicians from 24 different countries, including the UK, the US and the EU, have written a joint letter condemning China over the “arbitrary detention and unfair trial” of Jimmy Lai, a tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner.
The parliamentarians, led by senior British Conservative MP Alicia Kearns, are “urgently” demanding the immediate release of the 77-year-old British citizen, who has been held in solitary confinement at a maximum security prison in Hong Kong for almost four years.
The letter – which will be embarrassing for Beijing – was made public on the eve of Mr Lai’s trial resuming and on the day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G20 summit of economic powers in Brazil.
It also comes as Hong Kong jailed 45 pro-democracy activists.
The group of politicians, who also include representatives from Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, Ukraine and France, said Mr Lai’s treatment was “inhumane”.
“He is being tried on trumped-up charges arising from his peaceful promotion of democracy, his journalism and his human rights advocacy,” they wrote in the letter, which has been seen by Sky News.
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Starmer meets Chinese president
“The world is watching as the rule of law, media freedom and human rights in Hong Kong are eroded and undermined.
“We stand together in our defence of these fundamental freedoms and in our demand that Jimmy Lai be released immediately and unconditionally.”
Sir Keir raised the case of Mr Lai during remarks released at the start of his talks with Mr Xi on Monday – the first meeting between a British prime minister and the Chinese leader in six years.
The prime minister could be heard expressing concerns about reports of Mr Lai’s deteriorating health. However, he did not appear to call for his immediate release.
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From October: ‘This is what Hong Kong is’
Ms Kearns, the MP for Rutland and Stamford in the East Midlands, said the meeting had been an opportunity to be unequivocal that the UK expects Mr Lai to be freed.
“Jimmy Lai is being inhumanely persecuted for standing up for basic human values,” she said in a statement, released alongside the letter.
“He represents the flame of freedom millions seek around the world.
“We have a duty to fight for Jimmy Lai as a British citizen, and to take a stand against the Chinese Community Party’s erosion of rule of law in Hong Kong.
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“This letter represents the strength of international feeling and commitment of parliamentarians globally to securing Jimmy Lai’s immediate release and return to the UK with his family.”
Mr Lai was famously the proprietor of the Chinese-language newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong, which wrote scathing reports about the local authorities and the communist government in mainland China after Britain handed back the territory to Beijing in 1997.
The tabloid was a strong supporter of pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets of Hong Kong to demonstrate against the government in 2019.
But the media mogul was arrested the following year – one of the first victims of a draconian new security law imposed by the Chinese Communist Party.
His newspaper was closed after his bank accounts were frozen.
Mr Lai has since been convicted of illegal assembly and fraud. He is now on trial for sedition over articles published in Apple Daily.
World
Hong Kong jails 45 pro-democracy activists after accusing them of trying to overthrow the city’s government
Forty-five pro-democracy activists have been jailed in Hong Kong’s largest ever national security trial.
The activists sentenced with jail terms ranging from four years to ten years were accused of conspiracy to commit subversion after holding an unofficial primary election in Hong Kong in 2020.
They were arrested in 2021.
Hong Kong authorities say the defendants were trying to overthrow the territory’s government.
Democracy activist Benny Tai received the longest sentence of ten years. He became the face of the movement when thousands of protesters took to the city’s streets during the “Umbrella Movement” demonstrations.
However, Hong Kong officials accused him of being behind the plan to organise elections to select candidates.
Tai had pleaded guilty, his lawyers argued he believed his election plan was allowed under the city’s Basic Law.
Another prominent activist Joshua Wong received a sentence of more than four years.
Joshua Wong was sentenced to more than four years Pic: AP
Wong became one of the leading figures in the protests. His activism started as a 15 year old when he spearheaded a huge rally against a government plan to change the school curriculum.
Then in 2019 Hong Kong erupted in protests after the city’s government proposed a bill that would allow extradition to mainland China. It peaked in June 2019 when Amnesty International reported that up to two million people marched on the streets, paralysing parts of Hong Kong’s business district.
The extradition bill was later dropped but it had ignited a movement demanding political change and freedom to elect their own leaders in Hong Kong.
China’s central government called the protests “riots” that could not continue.
Hong Kong introduced a national security law in the aftermath of the protests.
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A woman is taken away by police outside the court Pic: Reuters
The US has called the trial “politically motivated”.
Dozens of family and friends of the accused were waiting for the verdict outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court.
British citizen and media mogul Jimmy Lai is due to testify on Wednesday.
Meeting on the sidelines of the G20 in Brazil, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told China’s President Xi Jinping he’s concerned about the health of Lai.
He faces charges of fraud and the 2019 protests. He has also been charged with sedition and collusion with foreign forces.
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