Britain is calling on Ukraine's allies to step up military support
Ukraine's allies must step up their military support to Kiev to help it break a frontline entrenchment and avoid a devastating, protracted World War I-style battle of attrition, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
"We're starting to see a slowing - an ossification - of the contact line. What we see when you have these kinds of brutal, attrition conflicts is this huge loss of human life. And that's what none of us want to see - and that's why we think now is the right time to step up our support for Ukraine. We cannot allow this situation to drag on and become some sort of World War I-style stalemate," James Cleverly told a small group of reporters in Washington.
The British foreign secretary made the remarks ahead of a meeting this week of senior defense officials from dozens of countries at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany to coordinate military aid to Kyiv.
Radio Moldova reminds its audience that at the end of last week, Great Britain announced that it would supply Ukraine with 14 Challenger 2 battle tanks - the first modern Western tanks promised to Kiev - and other heavy weapons. London's decision increased pressure on Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the United States and its allies have provided Kiev with tens of billions of dollars worth of weaponry, including missile systems, drones, armoured vehicles and communications systems. However, Ukraine says it needs more help to defeat Russia on the battlefield.
The commander of Ukrainian forces, Gen. Valeri Zalujni, said he outlined the "urgent needs" of his forces in a first one-on-one meeting Tuesday in Poland with the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley.
Russia has largely strengthened defensive lines in southern Ukraine and the Donbas region in the country's east, where it has recently made progress in a months-long bloody battle to capture the city of Bahmut.
