LONDON, UK: Russian gains in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region must be a “wake-up call”, British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Wednesday, adding allies had been “distracted” from events in the war.
The Russian army advanced in the northeastern region, taking advantage of the lack of weapons and troops in Ukraine.
The United States and European countries have been slow to deliver promised military supplies to the Ukrainian military.
“I really hope that this is the wake-up call that we’ve tried to give, now it’s being heard,” Shapps told Sky News.
“This is not a war where you can afford to be fully alert and then shut down or maybe get distracted into another conflict and then expect nothing to change on the ground,” Shapps said.
The British minister said the allies must back Ukrainians all the time, not just periodically adding that the $60 billion US military package “took too long to get through Congress”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on a trip to Ukraine this week that US aid would make a “real difference”.
