Sunak urges West to equip Ukraine to ‘finish the job’

Prime minister’s call comes amid signs of wavering international support for Ukraine

Rishi Sunak has said Ukraine “will finish the job” of repelling Vladimir Putin’s forces if Britain’s allies give the war-torn country the means to help it win.

The prime minister made the comments at the Conservative Party’s conference on Wednesday amid signs of wavering international support for Ukraine.

Last week, there were disagreements in the US Congress over an American support package for Ukraine. A spending bill to avert a US government shutdown was passed only after funding for Kyiv was withdrawn.

“I am proud to say we have also led the world in providing support for Ukraine,” Mr Sunak said at the beginning of his speech at the conference.

“We were the first country to send Western battle tanks to Kyiv, now more than 10 others have followed. We were the first country to send long-range weapons to Kyiv, now France and the United States have followed.

“We were the first country to agree to train Ukrainian pilots, now more than a dozen others have followed. I say this to our allies: If we give [Ukraine] president Zelensky the tools, the Ukrainians will finish the job,” he said.

Western allies had earlier raised concerns about running out of ammunition to give to Ukraine. Governments and defence manufacturers now had “to ramp up production in a much higher tempo”, said Nato’s most senior military official Admiral Rob Bauer.

“We need large volumes. The just-in-time, just-enough economy we built together in 30 years in our liberal economies is fine for a lot of things – but not the armed forces when there is a war ongoing,” he was quoted as saying by BBC News.

Slovakia has meanwhile witnessed a parliamentary election victory by a pro-Russian political party, which has suggested cutting military support for neighbouring Ukraine.

Poland and Ukraine’s formerly close relationship has also suffered in recent months due to disputes over grain and weapons.

Defence secretary Grant Shapps visited Ukraine at the end of September to assure its leaders the UK was still committed to support the war effort.

But Mr Shapps’ suggestions that UK armed forces could offer “in country” training to Ukrainian soldiers were later downplayed.

Additional reporting by agencies