In an interview with the Financial Times, Admiral Tony Radakin admitted that Ukraine’s defense is in a depressed mood and stressed that the country faces a tough fight to repel the advancing Russian forces.
But Britain’s defense chief, one of the most important figures in Western military support for Kyiv, stressed that such a bleak snapshot of the war underestimates longer-term trends that are more favorable to Kyiv.
AFP/Scanpix/Commander-in-Chief British Armed Forces Tony Radakin
He said these included the latest US and European military aid packages, Ukraine’s increasingly successful long-range strikes and Moscow’s “complete failure” to cut off Kyiv’s vital Black Sea grain exports.
“The danger with any snap judgment is that [jame] it doesn’t take into account where we are now and where we will be in a couple of years,” said T. Radakin, adding that people should stop “pampering Russia” and think that it “somehow has great advantages.”
During a nearly half-year hiatus over U.S. funding to Kyiv that ended just this week, Russian forces have continued to pound Ukraine with heavy artillery, missiles and drones, while making small territorial gains.
To regain the initiative against Moscow’s outnumbered military, Ukrainian commanders have asked the West for more long-range, high-tech weapons. Kyiv has also attempted increasingly ambitious strikes inside Russia against manufacturing facilities and energy infrastructure.
A major boost for Ukraine came from Washington, which abandoned its reservations about supplying Ukraine with ATACMS missiles and secretly sent a batch of 300 km-range missiles earlier this month. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that now that “we have additional authority and money, more will be sent.” I believe they will have an impact.”
However, after protracted discussions, US President Joe Biden nevertheless instructed his White House team to ensure that the longer-range system was intended “for use inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine”.
T.Radakin, on the contrary, did not express any obvious complaints about the Ukrainian attacks and sabotage raids inside Russia.
“Once Ukraine gains more long-range combat capabilities … its ability to continue deep operations [vis dažniau] will become a feature of the war, – said T. Radakins and added: – They undoubtedly have an impact.”
