THE former head of the British Army has said it’s vital Ukraine is given the weapons it needs to counter an “inevitable” Russian offensive.
Lord Richard Dannatt also said this was a battle which would not be settled by negotiation, but which would be resolved on the battlefield.
Speaking exclusively to GB News the distinguished former General said: “First of all we must remember this War is totally immoral. It’s Russian aggression in absolute spades, but given where we are, and the Russians have gone through a mobilisation exercise, it’s almost inevitable that at some stage in the late winter, early spring, the Russians will make a new offensive But on the evidence of what we’ve seen, that’s almost inevitably going to fail.”
But General Dannatt said Ukrainian fighters also needed a boost to help them have a better chance of winning the War.
“The previous packages that the West has given to Ukraine to increase their air defence capabilities, were terribly important,” he continued. “They will actually protect Ukraine. But the key point here, and this is a really key point about tanks, is that we now need to give, and indeed we are giving, the Ukrainians an offensive capability.
“This will mean that when the Russians make this inevitable attack the Ukrainians can mount a counter offensive that can be really successful. It can potentially break the spirit of the Russian soldier and break the back of the Russian army. That’s what’s going to need to happen because this war is not going to be settled by negotiation, it will be settled on the battlefield.”
Lord Dannatt’s comments came after a Ukrainian MP criticised delays in sending tanks to help Ukraine.
Kira Rudik was commenting on the news that Germany and the USA are to send tanks to Ukraine, after both countries initially stalled on fulfilling Ukraine’s request.
She told GB News: “We are all thrilled that the decision has finally been made and that we will receive tanks…we will train our soldiers faster, and that logistically the tanks will arrive in Ukraine faster.
“Of course, it is upsetting that the decision to take us to this turning point in supplying weapons for Ukraine was before the New Year when President Biden agreed to send us Patriot missiles.
“We know that Germany was hesitant because they did not want to be the only country supplying tanks to Ukraine. However, these arguments were quickly ruled out when the United Kingdom, United States, and Poland agreed to do that.”
She added: “We never have heard decent explanations from Germany, as to why there was hesitation. Right now, information from intelligence from all over the world is saying that Russia will be on the offensive very soon.
“It should not be a matter of question whether to give us weapons or not right now a year into this war.
“We are still in this David versus Goliath situation where Russia has more people, more weapons, more military production, and more supplies.
“So we have to be different. We have to fight harder. We have to have more sophisticated weapons, and we have to have to use different strategies and having tanks is one of those strategies.
“We are really happy that tanks will arrive but why didn’t they arrive earlier from Germany? That will remain a big question mark.”
