The British government decided to send heavy weaponry to Ukraine, including tanks, because the nation needs to give Russian President Vladimir Putin a “really clear message” about international support for Kyiv, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Tuesday.
Cleverly said Putin should understand that Britain is going to have “the strategic endurance to stick” with Ukraine until “the job is done.” He said support is constantly being reassessed by Ukraine’s partners and has evolved throughout the war, noting that “last year, we weren’t talking about tanks, and we weren’t talking about heavy artillery.”
“Now what we recognize they need is the ability to push back hard and the east and the south,” Cleverly said in a conversation with CNN’s Kylie Atwood at The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Cleverly would not preview future military support, but maintained that “our support has evolved and it is inevitable that it will continue to evolve.”
“The message we’re sending to Putin and frankly, anyone else that cares to be watching, is that we made a commitment to supporting Ukrainians until they were victorious,” Cleverly said.
“This is what they need to get the job done. This is what we’re going to supply. And we’re going to supply modern heavy military equipment and the ammunition to allow them to defend themselves properly,” he said.
“What Putin should understand is we are going to have the strategic endurance to stick with them until the job is done, and the best thing that he can do to preserve the lives of his own troops is to recognize that we’re going to stick with Ukrainians until they are victorious, and bring that war to a conclusion and get around the negotiating table in good faith, and not these kind of performative things that he’s been doing up until now,” Cleverly continued, saying that such actions by the Russian leader would save lives and money.