We must bolster Ukraine’s forces against Russia now, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tells world leaders in Munich

Rishi Sunak has told world leaders they must arm Ukraine now and set about boosting its long-term future against further Russian aggression.

The Prime Minister, in a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, had a two-fold message for the West.

The British leader said that Ukraine needed military backing by allies to counter any spring offensive by Russian president Vladimir Putin’s troops.

But he argued the West must also start to put in place the foundations to strengthen Kyiv’s security in the long term.

He told the Bavarian summit there was a need to “bolster” Kyiv’s armed forces immediately and to “double down” on the West’s backing for its defence against Russia’s invasion.

Sunak cited the provision of UK tanks and his administration’s decision to begin training Ukrainian pilots to fly Nato-standard fighter jets as an example of how Britain was playing its part.

But with one eye on the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July, he urged other Western leaders to commit to providing “Nato capabilities” for Ukraine’s armed forces to secure its borders for the future.

Sunak told the summit: “Our collective efforts are making a difference but with every day that passes, Russian forces inflict yet more pain and suffering.

“Now the only way to change that is for Ukraine to win.”

He added: “We need to do more to boost Ukraine’s long-term security.

“We must give them the advanced, Nato-standard capabilities that they need for the future.

“And we must demonstrate that we’ll remain by their side, willing and able to help them defend their country again and again.”

Sunak also said securing a lasting peace would mean “upholding international law” and making Moscow pay reparations to Kyiv.

Taking questions after his speech, Sunak urged allies to “seize” the moment to help ensure Moscow is defeated.

He said Ukraine needed the “means to fight back” and that upping support, something he said the UK had taken a lead on, would allow Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces to gain a “decisive advantage on the battlefield”.

The Prime Minister added: “That would be my pitch to everyone … is do what we are doing, join the countries that are providing that support, intensifying and accelerating it now … I think the alternative is far worse.

“We are all united in wanting Ukraine to win and if there’s an opportunity to do that sooner, and take advantage of the moment that we have, why would we not seize it? What are we waiting for?”

He argued that the “security guarantees, the architecture that was in place before this war has failed Ukraine” and called for Nato’s approach to threats to be reviewed at its summit in the summer.

Others to speak at the summit on Saturday included US vice-president Kamala Harris and Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

Before his speech, Sunak held bilateral talks with German chancellor Olaf Scholz and will later speak with Harris, along with the leaders of Poland, Sweden and Finland.

According to No 10, the Prime Minister “stressed the need for allies to think not just about securing peace in the short term, but about strengthening Ukraine’s long-term defences” during his conversation with Scholz.

The UK has provided £2.3bn of military support to Ukraine and Sunak said he was committed to matching or exceeding that contribution this year.