Wallace: Putin unlikely to succeed with plan to occupy Ukraine
The Defence Secretary says Vladimir Putin is now unlikely to succeed in occupying Ukraine.
Ben Wallace said the Russian invasion had "faltered" and was "starting to fail", as he pledged more financial and military support to Ukraine's defence.
At an event Mr Wallace co-hosted on Thursday, Denmark joined Britain in offering more aid to the eastern European nation.
"Three days are now over 150 days and nearly six months in, with huge significant losses of both equipment and indeed Russian personnel."
Mr Wallace added: "President Putin will have gambled that come August, come a few months in, we will have all got bored of the conflict and the international community would have gone off in different directions.
"Well, today is proof of the opposite," he added.
The Defence Secretary warned allies will soon have to start buying in weapons from other countries or "placing orders in factories to increase ammo supply to Ukraine" as reserve stocks become low.
Britain is giving the country a "significant number" of precision-guided M31A1 missiles that can hit targets up to 80km (50 miles) away, helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian heavy artillery, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said.
Ukraine has had success using MLRS, having been shown how to use the systems by British troops in the UK.
Britain has also committed to training up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in infantry battlefield scenarios in the coming months. Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands have all announced they will be supporting the programme.
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