Three years of reporting, funded by our readers — become a member now and help us prepare for 2025.
Goal: 1,000 new members for our birthday. Gift a membership to your friend and help us prepare for what 2025 might bring.
Become a member Gift membership
Skip to content
Edit post

James Rogers: Is Britain now Ukraine’s closest ally?

January 20, 2022 2:53 PM 3 min read
British and Ukrainian paratroopers shake hands during Joint Endeavor 2020 exercises in Mykolaiv Oblast on Sept. 22, 2020. (ArmyInform)
This audio is created with AI assistance

At the end of last week, a concerted and widespread cyberattack struck Ukrainian government and civil society websites. Kyiv has made it clear that it believes the Russian government to be behind the attacks as part of Russia’s ongoing attempts to destabilize Ukraine.

Although the Kremlin denies the accusations, the timing of the attack is indeed suspicious: just a few days after the breakdown of talks between the Kremlin and the United States over Russia’s military build-up on the Ukrainian border, a large-scale cyberattack strikes Ukraine.

Since invading Ukraine in 2014 and negating the Budapest Memorandum – whereby Russia, alongside the U.S. and the United Kingdom, guaranteed Ukrainian territorial integrity in 1994 – the Kremlin has undertaken operations designed to destabilize Ukraine. When it seized Crimea and occupied Luhansk and Donbas oblasts, the Kremlin’s stated motivation was to protect Russian-speaking ethnic minorities from the Ukrainian central government.

In reality, the Kremlin’s immediate target was Crimea and its chief port – Sevastopol – which provides the Russian Navy with a base to access the Mediterranean. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that his moves are defensive in light of NATO enlargement in the 1990s and 2000s and that Ukraine has no right to exist as an independent sovereign state. No doubt, the Kremlin is angry that so many of its near neighbours have sought protection from Russian aggression, which has greatly eroded Russian influence.

But Putin’s wider claims are of course hokum: NATO is a defensive alliance, Ukraine itself is not a member – nor is Georgia, another country invaded by Russia in the last two decades – and although it aspires to join, no Membership Action Plan exists at present. Russia’s claims of being ‘encircled’ or ‘penned in’ by NATO are nothing short of a manufactured myth: less than one-sixteenth (1,215 kilometres) of Russia’s border is shared with NATO members and the Russian military could overpower most of them.

Instead, the Kremlin’s strategic objective has become clearer and clearer: to prevent Ukraine from becoming a stable, prosperous liberal democracy. The Kremlin fears this development more than any other: Should it occur, the Russian people might start to demand the same reforms and freedoms in Russia, undermining the power and authority of Putin’s dreary kleptocracy.

This may be why the Kremlin is now toying with taking control of more of Ukraine’s territory. This prospect has alarmed several NATO governments, which have taken a plethora of responses. One of the most robust – if not the most robust – has been taken by the U.K., whose defense secretary, Ben Wallace, issued his own essay on Jan. 17 to denounce the Russian claims. This builds on over five years of progressively deepening relations between Kyiv and London, built around a shared assessment of Russian intentions and British strategic support for Ukraine.

With Operation ORBITAL, the UK has trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops, while British loans worth over 1 billion pounds have enabled the Ukrainian navy to redevelop its shore infrastructure and generate new naval capabilities, including the transfer of Sandown class minehunters and the sale of missile boats.

The Royal Navy has also visited the Black Sea over nine times since 2017, with the most robust visit occuring in June, when HMS Defender challenged illegal Russian claims over Ukrainian waters off the coast of Crimea, the Russian response to which sparked something approaching an international incident.

Now, as Ukraine faces the prospect of a renewed Russian onslaught, the U.K. has stepped forward again. On Jan. 17, Wallace announced to the House of Commons that Britain would provide Ukraine with direct military assistance in the form of anti-tank weapons. Delivered later that week by the Royal Air Force, Ukraine is now in possession of thousands of British missiles – missiles which will almost certainly make a Russian invasion somewhat harder.

Of all Euro-Atlantic countries, the U.K. best understands Russia and its intentions. Dialogue and discussion with the Kremlin may have a place, but only if supported by a robust and principled stance. Appeasing aggressors never works.

Moving forward, Ukraine and the UK ought to work with like-minded countries to build a coalition to constrain Russia’s aggressive thrusts. Britain should also be more determined to support Ukraine in the face of escalating aggression from Russia.

Ukraine has become emblematic of the resistance to Russia’s strong-armed methods.  To back down now would only serve to demonstrate to Moscow that it can act in this way with impunity, that lashing out at a sovereign nation that is increasingly aligned with a liberal and open Europe will be met with words only.

Three years of reporting, funded by our readers.
Millions read the Kyiv Independent, but only one in 10,000 readers makes a financial contribution. Thanks to our community we've been able to keep our reporting free and accessible to everyone. For our third birthday, we're looking for 1,000 new members to help fund our mission and to help us prepare for what 2025 might bring.
Three years. Millions of readers. All thanks to 12,000 supporters.
It’s thanks to readers like you that we can celebrate another birthday this November. We’re looking for another 1,000 members to help fund our mission, keep our journalism accessible for all, and prepare for whatever 2025 might bring. Consider gifting a membership today or help us spread the word.
Help us get 1,000 new members!
Become a member Gift membership
visa masterCard americanExpress

News Feed

7:31 PM

Putin cuts payments for wounded in war against Ukraine.

The current maximum amount of compensation is 3 million rubles (nearly $29,000), but the severity of the injury is not considered for its allocation. The change approved by Putin classifies injuries into three categories.
10:00 AM

US says North Korean troops join combat alongside Russia.

"Today I can confirm that over 10,000 (North Korean) soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia, and most of them have moved to the far western Kursk Oblast, where they have begun engaging in combat operations with Russian forces," spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.