A statement from ‘the Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street’ on 20 September laid out the continuing warmongering path western imperialist nations, led by Britain and the US, are pursuing in Ukraine.
The opening sentence declares that: ‘the Prime Minister announces the UK will meet or exceed the amount of military aid spent on Ukraine in 2022 next year.’ It then boasts that ‘the UK is already the second largest military donor to Ukraine, committing £2.3bn in 2022. We have trained 27,000 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces since 2015, and in the last year we have provided hundreds of rockets, five air defence systems, 120 armoured vehicles and over 200,000 pieces of non-lethal military equipment’.
That the military success of Ukrainian forces depends on the military hardware being flooded into the country by NATO is recognised:
‘The precise nature of UK military support in 2023 will be determined based on the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, it is expected to include equipment like the Multiple Launch Rocket System, provided to Ukraine by the UK and others, which has been decisive in allowing Ukraine to regain over 3,000 square kilometres of territory in recent days.’
That this is a proxy war between western imperialism and Russia, with the Ukrainian working class doing the fighting and dying for Britain and the rest of NATO, is also clearly signalled in Liz Truss’s patronising message:
‘My message to the people of Ukraine is this: the UK will continue to be right behind you every step of the way’.
Bob Shepherd
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 290 October/November 2022
