Putin ‘won’t stop’ and war could go on for another year, Ben Wallace warns

The conflict in Ukraine could last another year, the defense minister warned.

Tomorrow, February 24th, marks the anniversary of the invasion of Russian troops.

Ben Wallace, asked if we could see the war continuing in another 12 months, told LBC: “I think we will.

“I think Russia has shown complete disregard not only for the lives of the people of Ukraine but also for its own soldiers.

“Here we are 12 months later and 188,000, actually more, Russian soldiers have been killed or injured as a result of this catastrophic miscalculation and aggression by President Putin.

“If someone has crossed the line and thinks it’s okay to do that to their own people and effectively run a meat grinder for an army, I don’t think they’re going to stop.”

Mr Wallace added that planes currently held by NATO countries could be handed over to Ukraine if the conflict continues.

The defense minister stressed that the fight in Ukraine was “not a NATO conflict”.

But asked on LBC if NATO-supplied fighter jets could be sent to Kyiv, he said: “NATO-supplied, yes.

“I think there is already talk of an Eastern European country supplying MiG-29s.

“We will not see NATO, we will see countries that are members of NATO, possibly using Luftwaffe equipment or MiG-29s.”

This week, Putin appeared in Moscow and delivered a speech that showed no signs of halting the invasion.

He claimed he “didn’t start the war” in a rambling speech that lasted almost two hours.

A selection of Cabinet Ministers, MPs and Senators were present as the address was broadcast around the world.

Putin called the war a “special military operation” and described the situation in Ukraine as a “military coup”.

He claimed that the Ukrainians were waiting for his troops “to come to their aid” and that the West had unleashed a “genie in a bottle”.

Putin said: “They started the war and we used violence to stop it.”

“They spent $150 billion to militarily support Kiev’s regime.”

He went on to tell the audience that every Russian has a “great responsibility to protect our people on our historic land.”

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