LONDON — That both the former and current U.K. defense secretaries are keen to talk about Ukraine, and that both have very recently visited the country’s war-torn, eastern Donbas region, goes some distance in highlighting Britain’s strategic commitment to the country.
Gavin Williamson, the U. K. secretary of state for defense since 2017, told the Kyiv Post that visiting the country’s besieged east in September 2018 and then returning to the south-eastern port city of Odesa in late December, had clearly shown him the storm that Ukraine is weathering.
“My visits… underlined the extent of Ukraine’s suffering at the hands of Russia and its proxy forces, since it first violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.
“I witnessed first-hand the personal cost of Russia’s unwarranted and illegal aggression when I met with the families of the detained Ukrainian servicemen in December.”
On December 21, Williamson met with Ukrainian defense officials aboard the Ukrainian navy’s flagship, the Hetman Sahaydachniy. Two days earlier, a Royal Navy warship HMS Echo arrived in the country.
At the same time, a small group of British lawmakers began a Christmas tour of the troubled Azov Sea region, where Russian forces had begun an effective blockade of the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk.
Aboard the Ukrainian navy’s flagship and with HMS Echo anchored nearby, the defense secretary had said that Ukraine does not stand alone.
“This isn’t Russia’s sea — this is an international sea,” he said back then.
“On each trip I’ve also been struck by the utterly resolute response from Ukraine and the dedication of the men and women who make up its armed forces to protect their homeland,” the defense secretary added in a recent interview.
“It is so important that we continue to uphold international law which ensures free passage through the Black Sea,” the defence secretary said.
Williamson says that freedom of navigation is a fundamental aspect of the rules-based international order to which both the UK and Ukraine are committed. He had ordered HMS Echo deploy to Odesa sooner than planned after Russia attacked Ukrainian naval vessels in international waters near the Kerch Stait on Nov. 25.
More broadly, he says that Russian actions, “from fomenting conflict in the Donbas to the despicable chemical attack in Salisbury” show a “pattern of unacceptable behaviour” that must be challenged. Europe should be paying close attention, he also suggests.
“Russia’s ongoing militarization of Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov not only presents an immediate threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty — but undermines regional and European security,” he said.
In the United Kingdom, Ukraine will continue to find a dependable and reliable partner, the secretary said.
In the past year, the U.K. has provided 35 million pounds in support, extended its training of the Ukrainian armed forces through to 2020 (13,000 individual soldiers trained so far) — and, in partnership with NATO, these missions “will continue to grow”, Williamson says.
“This is in addition to the defensive skills programmes such as the identification of mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), infantry skills, medical care and logistics that UK personnel have been delivering since early 2015,” he added.
Williamson, reflecting the position of the U.K. government, has an irreversible position on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. He is hawkish on Russia and has a tough position when it comes to the Kremlin’s hybrid aggression.
Arguably, relations between Russia and the West have not been worse for a long time — but it doesn’t need to be like this, Williamson said.
“Let me be clear this is not the relationship with Russia that we in western Europe want. We remain open to a different kind of relationship and options of dialogue remain on the table,” he clarified.
The defense secretary had a final message for Moscow: “We encourage Russia to start acting within the rules-based international order. Step back from the path it has been taking and look to a new and different way.”
