Latest updates: defence secretary claims story based on misunderstanding as PM prepares to speak at Nato summit
- Boris Johnson seeks to defuse row over abandoning defence spending pledge
In his interview with LBC this morning Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, also claimed that Ukraine was “winning” the war against the Russian invaders. He explained:
I would still say the Ukrainians are winning. They are extracting huge amounts of cost from the Russian armed forces.
Twenty five thousand Russians, we think, have been killed in that fight in the space of 112, 115 days. Russia has failed on all its major objectives.
The government would have been overthrown in Britain and there would have been thousands of very angry parents and girlfriends who’ve lost their husbands … [Vladimir Putin has] reduced Russia in the eyes of the world and made it a lesser country.
The first lesson really from today is that if Vladimir Putin was hoping he would be getting less Nato on his western front as a result of his unprovoked, illegal invasion of Ukraine he’s been proved completely wrong – he’s getting more Nato.
This is a historic summit in many ways, but we’ve already got two new members coming in, Finland and Sweden, a huge step forward for our alliance.
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