Category: Defence

The statement made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, in the House of Commons on 25 April 2022.

It is 61 days since Russia invaded Ukraine, and 74 days since my Russian counterpart assured me that the Russian army would not be invading. As the invasion approaches its ninth week, I want to update the House on the current situation and the steps that we are taking to further our support for the Ukrainian people.

It is our assessment that approximately 15,000 Russian personnel have been killed during their offensive. Alongside the death toll are the equipment losses. A number of sources suggest that, to date, over 2,000 armoured vehicles have been destroyed or captured. That includes at least 530 tanks, 530 armoured personnel carriers, and 560 infantry fighting vehicles. Russia has also lost more than 60 helicopters and fighter jets. The offensive that was supposed to take a maximum of a week has now taken weeks. Last week Russia admitted that the Slava-class cruiser Moskva had sunk. That is the second key naval asset that the Russians have lost since invading, and its loss has significantly weakened their ability to bring their maritime assets to bear from the Black sea.

As I said in my last statement, Russia has so far failed in nearly every one of its objectives. In recognition of that failure, the Russian high command has regrouped, reinforced and changed its focus to securing the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. A failure of the Russia Ministry of Defence command and control at all levels has meant that it has now appointed one overall commander, General Dvornikov. At the start of this conflict, Russia had committed more than 120 battalion tactical groups, approximately 65% of its entire ground combat strength. According to our current assessment, about 25% of those have been rendered not combat-effective.

Ukraine is an inspiration to us all. Its brave people have never stopped fighting for their lands. They have endured indiscriminate bombardment, war crimes and overwhelming military aggression, but they have stood firm, galvanised the international community, and beaten back the army of Russia in the north and the north-east.

We anticipate that this next phase of the invasion will be an attempt by Russia to occupy further the Donbas and connect with Crimea via Mariupol. It is therefore urgent that we in the international community ensure that Ukraine gets the aid and weapons that it needs so much.

As Defence Secretary, I have ensured that at each step of the way the UK’s support is tailored to the anticipated actions of Russia. To date we have provided more than 5,000 anti-tank missiles, five air defence systems with more than 100 missiles, 1,360 anti-structure munitions, and 4.5 tonnes of plastic explosive. On 9 March, in response to indiscriminate bombing from the air and escalation by President Putin’s forces, I announced that the UK would supply Starstreak high-velocity and low-velocity anti-air missiles. I am now able to report that these have been in theatre for more than three weeks, and have been deployed and used by Ukrainian forces to defend themselves and their territory.

Over the recess, my ministerial team hosted a Ukrainian Government delegation at Salisbury plain training area to explore further equipment options. That was quickly followed by the Prime Minister’s announcement of a further £100 million-worth of high-grade military equipment, 120 armoured vehicles, sourcing anti-ship missile systems, and high-tech loitering munitions for precision strikes.

However, as we can see from Ukrainian requests, more still needs to be done. For that reason, I can now announce to the House that we shall be gifting a small number of armoured vehicles fitted with launchers for those anti-air missiles. Those Stormer vehicles will give Ukrainian forces enhanced short-range anti-air capabilities, day and night. Since my last statement, more countries have answered the call and more have stepped up to support. The Czech Republic has supplied T-72 tanks and BMP fighting vehicles, and Poland has also pledged T-72 tanks.

The quickest route to help Ukraine is with equipment and ammunition similar to what they already use. The UK Government obviously do not hold Russian equipment, but in order to help where we do not have such stock, we have enabled others to donate. Alongside Canada and Poland, the Royal Air Force has been busy moving equipment from donor countries to Ukraine. At the same time, if no donor can be found, we are purchasing equipment from the open market. On 31 March, I held my second international donor conference, with an increase in the number of countries involved to 35, including representatives from the European Union and NATO. So far these efforts have yielded some 2.5 million items of equipment, worth more than £1.5 billion.

The next three weeks are key. Ukraine needs more long-range artillery and ammunition, and both Russian and NATO calibre types to accompany them. It also seeks anti-ship missiles to counter Russian ships that are able to bombard Ukrainian cities. It is therefore important to say that, if possible, the UK will seek to enable or supply such weapons. I shall keep the House and Members on each Front Bench up to date as we proceed.

The MOD is working day and night, alongside the US, Canada and the EU, to support continued logistical supplies, but not all the aid is lethal. We have also sent significant quantities of non-lethal equipment to Ukraine. To date, we have sent more than 90,000 ration packs, more than 10 pallets of medical equipment, more than 3,000 pieces of body armour, nearly 77,000 helmets, 3,000 pairs of boots and much more, including communications equipment and ear defence.

On top of our military aid to Ukraine, we contribute to strengthening NATO’s collective security, both for the immediate challenge and for the long term. We have temporarily doubled the number of defensive personnel in Estonia. We have sent military personnel to support Lithuanian intelligence, resilience and reconnaissance efforts. We have deployed hundreds of Royal Marines to Poland, and sent offshore vessels and Navy destroyers to the eastern Mediterranean. We have also increased our presence in the skies over south-eastern Europe with four additional Typhoons based in Romania. That means that we now have a full squadron of RAF fighter jets in southern Europe, ready to support NATO tasking. As the Prime Minister announced on Friday, we are also offering a deployment of British Challenger 2 tanks to Poland, to bridge the gap between Poland donating tanks to Ukraine and their replacements arriving from a third country.

Looking further ahead, NATO is reassessing its posture and the UK is leading conversations at NATO about how best the alliance can deter and defend against threats. My NATO colleagues and I tasked the alliance to report to leaders at the summit in June with proposals for concrete, long-term and sustainable changes. Some of us in this House knew that, behind the mask, the Kremlin was not the international statesman it pretended to be. With this invasion of Ukraine, all of Europe can now see the true face of President Putin and his inner circle. His intention is only to destroy, crush and rub out the free peoples of Ukraine. He does not want to preserve. He must not be allowed to prevail. Ukrainians are fighting for their very lives and for our freedoms. The President of Ukraine himself said as much: if Russia stops fighting, there will be peace; if Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no more Ukraine.

The speech made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, in Blackpool on 19 March 2022.

Good morning Conference.

Before I begin, can you all join me in giving a very warm welcome to the Ukrainian Ambassador – Vadym Prystaiko.

Vadym, we are extremely pleased to welcome you here today.

Conference, I can’t tell you how nice it is to be here.

How genuinely nice it is to be home. Not only because Blackpool is next to my wonderful constituency of Wyre and Preston North but also because Lancashire is where I live and because as a county it is one of the places that helped shape the modern Conservative party.

If we can win in Lancashire, we can win the country.

Every year in this town, veterans of my regiment, the Scots Guards, meet here to remember the Falkland Islands and the Battle of Tumbledown.

This year it will be especially important as we mark the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the Falklands Islands from the grip of the Argentinian Military dictator General Galtieri.

Many said it couldn’t be done. That sending a force 8000 miles to the south Atlantic was an impossible task.

But history is littered with those that underestimate this plucky island.

General Galtieri was not the first dictator to do so.

While many here will remember the amazing Sea Harrier and the battles of Tumbledown, Goose Green and Mount Kent we sadly can also remember the 255 British lives lost and also the lost lives of the young Argentinians who were sent so needlessly in order to save a dictator’s political position.

There were many stand out contributions to that campaign.

But Margaret Thatcher stood out for her leadership and determination to stand up for the values and freedoms we all hold so dear.

By her leadership she equipped the forces with the most important weapon of all. – the moral component:

That deep sense that what we were fighting for was legal, justified and right.

Today that same moral component is what is arming the men and women of Ukraine.

Who would have thought that 31 years after the end of the cold war we would be once again facing such a direct threat to our freedoms and values.

As we gather today, spare a thought for the brave Ukrainians fighting the occupying forces of Russia as we sit here in comfort.

I am proud of what the UK has done to add to that moral fight.

Through Boris Johnson’s leadership on sanctions and military aid, Britain has led the way.

Since 2015, we have helped train Ukrainian forces, underwritten equipment sales when no one else would, and we were the first in Europe to join the US in sending defensive weapons to the forces of Ukraine.

To date we have sent over 4000 of our new light anti-tank weapons (known as NLAWs), a further consignment of Javelin anti-tank missiles and thousands of items of body armour and other defensive equipment.

But we also have led, alongside Poland and the US, the distribution of many other nations’ donations.

Just like 1982, Putin’s arrogant assumptions have directly led to the level of casualties and attrition amongst the Russian army.

The Kremlin assumed that Ukraine would not fight – he was wrong.

He assumed that his Army was invincible – he was wrong.

And he assumed that the international community would splinter – he was wrong.

We have never been more united on sanctions, on military aid and in NATO.

The deaths of so many young Russian soldiers are the responsibly of the Kremlin.

During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan mothers of those killed in action called the dead “boys in zinc” because of the zinc-lined coffins that came back.

None of us should let today’s Russian President forget that despite dozens of Presidents and Prime Ministers urging him not to invade, he did.

The International community called for peace. President Putin chose “zinc”.

The UK can and will do more to help Ukraine.

That’s why last week I announced that we would be upgrading our aid to include the Starstreak anti-air missile.

But the UK doesn’t just stop there. We are standing by our NATO and European partners.

Countries such as Poland, Romania and the Baltic states who border the conflict.

President Putin has been clear in his threats that all of us are at risk.

So in the last few months I have sent 450 soldiers to Poland to help with engineering, air defence and humanitarian tasks. We have also added another Battlegroup in Estonia and at the same time increased Typhoon and F-35 deployments over Romania and Bulgaria. Typhoon jets, that, by the way, are made here in Lancashire.

Conference, I used to joke to my officials that “defence never sleeps”. It turns out my joke is a little flat because it turns out to be true.

Over the last 3 years we have been at the forefront of the COVID response, the evacuation in Afghanistan and now Ukraine. My team of excellent Ministers – Baroness Goldie, Jeremy Quinn, James Heappey and Leo Docherty – never stop working and delivering, both on operations and on defence reform.

But even before the events of the last 2 years the Prime Minister’s generous defence settlement of an additional £24 billion over this 4-year spending round, has enabled us to once and for all have a proper defence programme that puts the men and women of the armed forces at the heart of all we do.

The defence command paper we published in March last year was very timely and many of the reforms we are delivering are right for this competitive age.

But defence isn’t about just the front line. It is also about everything that goes on behind it. The defence industry, the training and skills, the civil servants, and veterans’ services. Behind every front line is a strong support base.

The failures of the Russian Army in Ukraine show us that, unless you invest in the people, then nothing can achieved. Defence and levelling up go hand in hand.

As a Lancashire MP I am incredibly proud of our Prime Minister’s determination to level up the UK and to invest in skills and jobs up and down the country.

After COVID we all have a duty to “Build Back Better”.

Through the Ministry of Defence’s Defence and Industrial Strategy, supported by £6.6 billion of investment into R&D over this 4-year spending round, we are ensuring that the UK continues to have competitive, innovative and world-class defence and security industries, that underpin national security, drive investment and prosperity across the Union, and contribute to strategic advantage through science and technology.

A great example of this is the new Defence Science and Technology Laboratory due to be opened next week in Newcastle Helix.

The location of the new unit, with its proximity to world-class universities with a high proportion of STEM and computing students, will allow it to thrive.

Supporting world-class defence development from the heart of Newcastle, whilst also supporting new jobs in the North East. Newcastle is DSTL’s first established Science and Technology Hub and will specialise in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

AI and Data Science will benefit from a £142 million investment from DSTL over the next four years.

This is not the only new Defence investment taking root in the North.

Last autumn I announced that the recently established National Cyber Force will be permanently located in Samlesbury, Lancashire.

The site will contribute to national security whilst also boosting skills, employment, and investment in the local area, delivering on this Government’s commitment to level-up whilst also bringing together Government, skills and industry to build a world-class capability.

Backed by over £5 billion of investment before 2030 and run jointly by the MoD and GCHQ, the new Northern site is due open in 2023 and will sit between Blackburn, Preston, Bolton and Burnley and create thousands of skilled jobs in a region with award-winning further education colleges, world class universities, and a thriving defence and aerospace sector.

And, further delivering against this Government’s pledge to level-up and decentralise, I can announce that new home of Defence Business Services (the organisation that support the MoD’s financial and HR services as well as Veterans UK) will be right here in Blackpool.

Conference, just last year Labour claimed that our new plan for UK defence ‘risked the UK being out of step with our NATO allies’.

Quite to the contrary, the principles set out in the Prime Minister’s Integrated Review have served NATO and our allies well in this dark hour.

Of course I welcome that our policy has attracted support from across the House.

Let us not forget, that many members of Labour’s front bench, were also on the front bench of Jeremy Corbyn – who wanted to abolish NATO, AND blamed the West for Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In contrast, the year of the Falklands conflict, Mrs Thatcher told the Conservative Party Conference that “peace, freedom and justice are only to be found where people are prepared to defend them.”

That remains the case today.

40 years ago the 74 days of the Falklands conflict tested the resolve of the British nation, but freedom prevailed.

I am proud that today we see that same resolve across all generations standing in support of Ukraine.

Slava Ukriani.