Ukraine war: UK will boost lethal and non-lethal aid – minister

The UK will increase “lethal and non-lethal aid” to Ukraine amid Russia’s continued military assault, the defence secretary has said.

Ben Wallace said he would set out more details of what the UK and others could do in a statement to MPs on Wednesday.

It will cover equipment for those fighting against Russia and also aid for those affected by the invasion.

But he rejected calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying it would not halt Russian artillery or missiles.

Ukraine has accused Russia of preventing safe civilian evacuations as Vladimir Putin’s forces continue shelling cities.

Asked if the UK would support Poland if it chose to supply jets to Ukraine, he told BBC Breakfast there was still an ongoing “debate” about whether Poland would do this as it could face Russian “retaliation”.

But Mr Wallace said that, while Britain could not supply jets directly to Ukraine, it would support Poland in whatever choice it made.

The UK has already pledged a total of £400m in support for Ukraine, as well as providing defensive military equipment and imposing sanctions against Russian banks, companies and individuals.

As Russia’s assault on Ukraine enters its 13th day, Mr Wallace said its forces were “getting more desperate” and “doubling down on brutality”.

Despite a proposal from Moscow to create safe escape routes for civilians, Russian forces have continued shelling major cities.

Mariupol, Volnovakha, Sumy and Kharkiv spent another day under fierce attack, which prevented the evacuation of civilians, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.

Mr Wallace told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Mr Putin was a “spent force in the world” and seemed to have “no limit to the humanitarian grief and murder he can inflict on a country”.

Asked how the war could end, he said one scenario could be if the Russian army becomes “so stuck and defeated” it “turns in on itself and the generals get blamed and then it grinds to a halt”.

He said a second possibility could occur if Russia imposed “its total will” by trying to break the people of Ukraine, because he believed Mr Putin wouldn’t “break the people of Ukraine”.

He added: “The cost to Putin is not just in the invasion, it’s going to be in the decades of occupation, which I don’t think he will be able to sustain.”