Three years, three weeks, three days: testing times for Europe's security

Three years ago, Europe changed, for the worse. Russia’s invasion of a sovereign European country was an unprovoked and unjustified violation of the UN Charter, committed by a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Three weeks: that was the confident assumption the Russians had about how long Ukraine could hold out. Three years on, Kyiv remains a free city, President Zelensky and his people have shown what resilience, real freedom and democracy look like.

Three days in Munich at the annual Security Conference saw a message from the US Administration, which some in Europe might not have liked, but to which we all must respond. We need to do more for our own security.

In an ever more dangerous world, we can keep our countries secure only if we work together: this was the message UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had taken to Brussels ten days before for the EU Summit on defence and security.  That means Europe investing more in defence, for our own sake and to ensure the US remain committed to playing their essential role in transatlantic security.

And for Kosovo, whose safety and security are guaranteed by its NATO partners, it means painstaking coordination and cooperation with those partners to minimise security risks and accelerate the journey towards minimum presence.

The catalogue of crimes in Russia's barbaric attack against Ukraine is shocking: abduction, murder, and torture of civilians; forced deportation of children; rape and sexual violence; use of chemical weapons; deliberate attacks on civilian energy and food infrastructure.

The UK and Kosovo share deep revulsion at the invasion of Ukraine, a common understanding of the implications of inaction, and determination to ensure that Putin does not prevail. 

The UK has given over 15 billion euros in military, economic and humanitarian aid since 2022, including £5bn on humanitarian, energy and reconstruction. We will spend at least £3bn a year until 2030 to support Ukraine. We are proud to be co-operating with Kosovo in supporting Ukraine’s resistance. The latest contingent of Kosovo Security Force instructors left only last month to the UK to join the programme to assist with the training of Ukrainian soldiers.
 
Many are doing much, but we all need to do more. Britain will invest more in our own defence and will be ambitious for greater UK-EU cooperation and for an enhanced European role in NATO. 

On Ukraine, Europe needs to play its full part in the wider effort to secure a strong, durable peace that ensures Ukraine’s freedom and prosperity and deters future Russian aggression.  A just and lasting peace is vital for Ukraine and for wider Euro-Atlantic and international security and prosperity. This will require robust security arrangements from the outset, which ensure Russia is never able to invade again. Putin has shown time and again that he will break a weak deal.

NATO has made a long-term commitment to Ukraine that it is on an irreversible path to membership as agreed by allies at the Washington Summit last year. We stand by that, just as we stand by our desire to work with Kosovo on its path towards eventual NATO membership.

The UK is ready to play a leading role in providing Ukraine with security guarantees, alongside European partners and the US, including with British troops on the ground if necessary. These will not be easy decisions, but the alternative is too grim to contemplate. History teaches us that taking principled action when necessary, even when the cost is high, is both the right and the smart thing to do for the future.