Ben Wallace speaks with personnel after observing Ukrainian troops undergoing training
(Picture: Getty Images)Russia is “losing slowly” in its war against Ukraine, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has told Ukrainian troops training in Kent.
Mr Wallace made his comments as he visited Ukrainian troops in Lydd, where they are being trained by the British Armed Forces to fight in the war against Russia.
Russia has faced recent setbacks in its war against Ukraine, which began eight-and-a-half months ago.
Russia has also reportedly suffered heavy losses in “fierce” attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Mr Wallace also said the UK does not fear reprisals from Russia for supporting Ukraine.
Russia has long been an “active adversary” of the UK, referring to the Salisbury Novichok poisings in 2016 and saying the country has “regularly been behind cyber attacks”.
“Russia has been an active adversary of Britain for many years - many will remember the Salisbury poisoning, where they deployed nerve agents,” the cabinet minister told the PA news agency.
“Russia has been regularly behind cyber attacks in this country.
“Of course Russia doesn’t like the fact the United Kingdom is standing up against it - we’re standing up for the values of freedom, democracy and human rights, but that isn’t going to put us off.
“We’re going to continue to support Ukraine, to defend its sovereign territory against an illegal invasion, and we’ll just carry on doing it. Britain stands for more than a small moment in time, Britain stands for those enduring human rights.”
Ukrainian and Russian forces clashed overnight on Tuesday night over Snihurivka, a town about 50km north of the southern city of Kherson.
Ukraine‘s army hopes to reclaim the Russian-occupied city, the only regional capital captured during Moscow’s February 24 invasion and a key target of an ongoing counteroffensive.
Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Kherson region’s Kremlin-appointed administration, said in a Telegram post that the Ukrainian army had “gained a foothold” along a railway line in Snihurivka’s north.
In a separate post, he claimed Russian forces had repulsed the Ukrainian advance.
The Kherson region is one of four provinces of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed and subsequently placed under Russian martial law.
