Rishi Sunak across the board: after having ordered joint attacks with the US on the Houthis in Yemen overnight, the British prime minister reached Kiev to announce 2.9 billion in new aid to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and sign an “unprecedented” bilateral agreement » on security guarantees to Ukraine, the first G7 country to do so after all the group's nations promised to sign similar agreements at the NATO summit in Vilnius last year. The British Prime Minister is thus trying to fill a gap that remains in the West regarding military assistance for the invaded country, and to give a positive signal after the disheartening announcement from the White House of the end of American funds and the consequent stop to supplies for Kiev.
The sharp reply from Putin's super-hawk, Dmitri Medvedev, to the English “eternal enemies” was immediate: “I hope they understand that the deployment of their official military contingent in Ukraine will mean a declaration of war on our country”, stated the vice-president of the Council of Russian security. An option, that of British troops on the ground, which in any case is not contemplated in the agreement. The new package of 2.5 billion pounds – around 2.9 billion euros – “is the largest since the beginning of the war” provided by London and includes “hundreds of drones” to be delivered in the coming months, Sunak explained. This is “a strong signal” addressed to both Kiev and Moscow, underlined the Tory prime minister, according to whom to help Kiev “we must do more”: hesitating on aid to Ukraine would only “encourage” Vladimir Putin and its allies North Korea and Iran.
The new British support is included in the bilateral pact signed by the two leaders in Kiev and defined by Zelensky as “a watershed moment in European history”. “The United Kingdom will continue to support Ukraine for the ten-year duration of this agreement”, we read in the text of the agreement which will remain in force – they explain from Kiev – until Ukraine's hoped-for entry into NATO.
In the document, the chapter dedicated to defense explains that the two sides “will work together to ensure a sustainable force capable of defending Ukraine now and deterring Russian aggression in the future, through the continuous provision of security assistance and modern military equipment” giving priority “to air defense, artillery and long-range firepower”. The agreement also provides for British support for the development of “modern armed forces” in Ukraine and for Kiev's navy, with an eye on tensions in the Black Sea.
In addition to defense, other points of the agreement concern guarantees of financial and humanitarian support, protection of critical infrastructure, intelligence cooperation and cybersecurity, and the fight against propaganda.
According to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office Andriy Yermak, this agreement “debunks the myth of Putin's propaganda about the West's tiredness” towards Ukraine. For analysts, it is clear that London's move aims to cover – in part – the holes opened by the freezing of US military aid. But Zelensky said he was “positive” about the fact that the approval of the American Congress for the billions of funds for Kiev will arrive: legislators in Washington have until January 19 to negotiate the various items of public spending – including new aid for the 'Ukraine – and finalize the budget to avoid a first partial shutdown.
Furthermore, negotiations continue in Brussels after the Hungarian veto on the funds for Kiev. “The extraordinary summit of the 27, next February 1st, will have to find an agreement on the continuation of financial assistance” to the invaded country, is the hope of the president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, who said she was “confident” that an agreement will be found.
Meanwhile, with the war continuing on the ground and approaching the grim milestone of two years of hostility, the United States is trying to hit Moscow's economy, with new sanctions targeting one individual and three Russian entities involved in the transfer and testing of North Korean missiles for Russia. According to Bloomberg, the Biden administration is then ready to support a proposal to confiscate $300 billion in Russian assets and use them for the reconstruction of Ukraine. If implemented, it will be “21st century piracy”, attacked the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, before promising “painful countermeasures” for Western countries.
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