By Christopher Ford

Labour needs to take steps to assist Ukraine win the war and end the Russian occupation. There are clear steps that can and should be taken here and now to achieve this objective.

Unfortunately, debates on what Labour should be doing, such as that hosted by Progressive Britain , have focused on how the next Labour government should support Ukraine.  The Labour front bench is restricting itself with a consensus approach, where  no change can be made until after an election. Time, however, is pressing, as a Ukrainian female soldier fighting in Donbas wrote to me:

“Our positions are 100 meters away from the enemy. We are being bombarded by everything: cluster bombs, phosphorus, artillery. The ratio of our fire to that of the enemy is approximately 1 to 50. We need everything we can get.” 

These words show the desperate situation facing the Ukrainian armed forces two years into Russia’s’ full-scale invasion.  There is growing anxiety in Ukraine, with a shortage of ammunition,  mounting pressure at the front, missiles penetrating defences and a new offensive by a re-armed Russia expected.  

The clock is also ticking internationally. The elections in the EU and USA could see increased far right influence and a revanchist Trump presidency.  Both forces are intent on undermining aid in order to pressure Ukraine to accept an inevitably unjust deal with Putin.

The Kremlin is seeking to exploit this situation to weaken belief in continued international support, while imperiously reiterating its objectives to expand its occupation of Ukraine.  

The argument by some that military aid should be stopped as it is fuelling the war, has proven catastrophically false, as the delays in aid have only strengthened Putin. The fall of the city of Avdiivka is evidence of what this will mean.

Ukraine is at a crossroads and with it lies the fate of this key battle for democracy with the new authoritarianism.  This malaise was entirely avoidable: it has arisen from the self-limiting approach by the democracies providing aid. The UK is not above criticism: the argument made by the Tory government that, as the war has evolved so has the type of weaponry needed, is erroneous.  The arsenal of Russia was known since day one, and the barbaric methods of Moscow as soon as the invasion began.

It took four months after the invasion for the UK to agree to send stronger air defence, eleven months to agree a mere 14 Challenger tanks, over a year to provide Storm Shadow missiles, fifteen months to agree to train Ukrainian pilots.  What is being provided in the latest aid packages is also insufficient.

Grant Schapps visiting Kyiv on 8th March announced a support package to purchase over 10,000 drones for Ukraine, declaring that “it doesn’t have to be this way because we easily have the resources of the West if we have the will.”  But it is not enough, and Tory government practice is unchanged – but there is a significant package of military aid available in the UK which if released could potentially have a major impact in ending the current malaise.

These resources have been confirmed by parliamentary disclosures to questions raised by Clive Lewis MP and John McDonnell MP to the Secretary of State for Defence.

Their questions have revealed the extent to which the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been disposing of military vehicles and aircraft, selling and auctioning off military hardware that could instead be donated to Ukraine.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it can now be revealed by the Secretary of State for Defence, that the MoD has sold off over one thousand military vehicles. The sell-off includes 74 Bulldog armoured personnel carriers, 134 CVRT combat reconnaissance vehicles, 63 MAN Support Vehicles, 48 Pinzgauer Trucks, and an array of other trucks, logistics vehicles, trailers, transporters, and quad bikes, as well as 46 fixed-wing aircraft, including attack aircraft and various transport planes.

This is all military equipment that could be donated to resisting the Russian invasion, rather than filling up sales and auctions lists.

MPs calling for greater military assistance for Ukraine have condemned the ways in which the MoD is selling off its hardware, rather than donating it to the war effort.  Labour MP Clive Lewis tabled a motion to Parliament last year, demanding all such equipment to be offered to Ukraine.  It was raised again by Nadia Whittome MP during a debate on Ukraine on the first anniversary of the invasion. But rather than take action on the issue, the government feigned ignorance.

One example revealed by Lewis and McDonnell is the selling-off of FV107 Scimitar reconnaissance vehicles, a battle-hardened light tank used in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Early on in the conflict, the UK promised to donate 23 Scimitar tanks to Ukraine, but so far has failed to send any. In contrast, 18 have already been sold off to undisclosed buyers via the Defence Equipment Sales Agency.

With military hardware being sold off, rather than donated to Ukraine’s war effort, campaigning groups such as the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign and volunteers have been raising money to buy vehicles and drive them over 1,000 km for the Armed forces of Ukraine.  Meanwhile the MoD sold 182 military Land Rovers similar to those we fundraise for and risk to deliver to a war zone.

Of course, the government will argue it has given significant military aid since the start of the full-scale invasion.  But as the war continues and continued aid is under threat, there is so much more the UK could and should be doing. Last January, the UK donated 14 Challenger tanks – now, with the MoD planning to upgrade 148 of its 213 Challenger 2 tanks, will the remaining 63 be sold off or sent to protect soldiers on Ukraine’s front lines? Of the 83 Scimitar tanks still available after the MoD sale, will we see these donated to help Ukraine?

The UK has trained Ukrainian pilots, but what about sending planes? The parliamentary disclosure shows that the UK is more than capable of donating Typhoon combat aircraft – with 30 currently on the register. Of these 26 will leave service by March next year. And yet, the Secretary of State for Defence has confirmed there are no plans to donate fixed wing aircraft to Ukraine. Instead these Typhoons will be stripped of useable spare parts. Similarly, nine Chinooks set to be retired from the UK armed forces could be donated to Ukraine – if not, why not?

It is a scandal that despite the knowledge of the formidable Russian defences, the UK did not donate some the most advanced minefield breaching systems for last year’s counter offensive, that is the Python Minefield Breaching Systems or any of the 32 Trojan Armoured Engineer Vehicles. Notably no remotely operated minefield breaching systems were donated.

Claims in the West that stockpiles of weapons that could be provided to Ukraine are dangerously depleted is not the case. The questions asked by Lewis and McDonnell reveal a worrying trend of the MoD and the UK Government choosing to sell off its military hardware rather than redeploy it to help Ukraine win. This reveals a self-limiting approach to the conflict that harms not only Ukrainian soldiers struggling on the frontlines: it endangers us all.

A new Early Day Motion (EDM 501) has been tabled by Clive Lewis MP calling on the government to provide this package of aid. It has been endorsed by the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine which issued an appeal for solidarity to the global trade union movement to call on governments to provide much needed military aid.

Labour should come out now and back the call for this package of aid. It should mark a radical break from the practice of providing just enough to resist Russia, to providing enough for Ukraine to win the war. That starts with donating our military hardware, not selling it off to the highest bidder.

Back on the frontlines, and an officer known as Phoenix told me how “the availability of these types of weapons and equipment, both at the tactical and operational-strategic levels, will make it possible to have an advantage on the battlefield and, in the end, to win faster than without it, avoiding greater costs than we will have relying only on ourselves. And we must remember, that by doing so we are saving Europe from further Russian invasion.”

Christopher Ford is an activist with the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign.

Image: Kharkiv downtown street destroyed by Russian bombardment. Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=321813666640956&set=pcb.321813919974264. Author: Міністерство внутрішніх справ України, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.