By Isle of Wight Observer
As debate rages about the war in Ukraine and the USA and Russia have entered into negotiations about the country without the involvement of President Zelensky, we asked the Island’s two MPs for their views.
Richard Quigley – Isle of Wight West (Labour)
Not long before Russia invaded Ukraine, then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson told the Defence Select Committee that “the old concepts of fighting big tank battles on European land mass are over”. Yet that’s exactly what we’ve seen in Ukraine; we’ve seen the UK and allies scramble to provide the military aid and support needed for conventional land warfare in mainland Europe.
No one wants to be at war. The UK is a master of soft power, and our forces pride themselves on being a defence force. But the war in Ukraine demonstrates that our forces need to be resilient. Over the last 14 years we’ve seen the hollowing out of our armed forces under successive governments. The number of personnel, the state of equipment being used, and our assets are all in crisis.
Russia is testing us. They’re purposefully testing Europe; they’re testing NATO; and they are testing our collective resilience and response.
The Russian research vessel Yantar was recently spotted in waters around the UK. It’s suspected the vessel was actually mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure. Our underwater infrastructure is crucial for our energy supplies, as well as most of our internet traffic. Any tampering with it would cause major problems and outages effecting the whole country.
So, it may seem like we’re spending a lot helping the Ukraine to defend against Russia’s invasion, but we’ve little choice. Our government isn’t just standing up for the people of Ukraine, it’s standing up for our own sovereignty and citizens by preventing further escalation.
Joe Robertson – Isle of Wight East (Conservative)
“We need national unity on Ukraine and I support the Government’s position. I am pleased to see that the Foreign Secretary has spoken out strongly and described the UK as Ukraine’s “ironclad partner.” It is more important than ever that we continue to stand in solidarity with Ukraine during this time of crisis and work even harder to keep western partners involved. If the United States is taking a different line under President Trump that should not deter the rest of the western alliance from holding strong.
“Ukraine did not start the war. President Zelensky is not a dictator but a democratically elected leader fighting to protect his country and its people from aggressors. Ukraine must be directly involved in any conversations about how to bring the war to an end. If European peacekeeping troops are required to uphold any negotiated settlement then the UK should be prepared to contribute to that peacekeeping.
“Whatever the future holds in Ukraine, the Government should increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP without delay.
“Failing to spend more on defence is not peacemaking, it is weakness in an increasingly uncertain world. It only emboldens those who would wish us harm and adds to global instability.”
