Ukraine War: 'Putin is feeling more and more isolated'

Well, Ukrainians are not losing it, and with the support they've had from the West, they will not lose it. The question is, can the Ukrainians win? The Russians are not going to win, but can the Ukrainians win? And if so, when? And of course, I think we all recognise, and particularly having listened to recently to President Zelensky, that until they get all the weaponry that they're asking for, main battle tanks, self-propelled artillery and the like, they won't be able to mount a proper counter-offensive and crack the Russians. So, long answer, I'm afraid, Kate, to a short question. Ukrainians will not lose this. The Russians cannot win it. What we have to do is help the Ukrainians to win on the battlefield. But we bring other pieces into this chess game, don't we? We bring in China, we bring in Belarus, we bring in Iran, and we bring in what's happening in Moldovan airspace.

What impact is that going to have? Well, these are all wider considerations, as you quite correctly point out. Yes, I think the other thing, of course, is interesting, is the attack on the Russian spy plane in Belarus. That's an indication of the lack of support, the lack of universal support that Putin and Russia has in the region. And then, of course, it's the wider question of what support more widely in the world. We see many African nations sitting on the fence. We see China making a very interesting contribution to all this, giving moral support. But until now, not giving physical support as far as we can determine, and India being pretty wary in its relationship and lack of warm support for Russia.

So, Putin, I think we have to infer, is feeling more and more isolated. And undoubtedly, under huge pressure himself. Yeah, but lots of those armies or military that are hoping to help Ukraine are also struggling. Some might say, even our own Defence Secretary says that our military and our defence budget has been hollowed out. Well, you're right. But of course, these are related, but these are separate issues. And it comes to the live issue in this country about whether Ben Wallace will be successful in persuading Jeremy Hunt to give him an uplift in the defence budget.

He's making the case for somewhere between £8 billion and £13 billion extra. Personally, I think that case is very strong. And in a sense, as an ex-former army chief, I would say this again, that so a part of that additional money, if he's able to get it, must go to our land forces, not just to increase our own capability, but to make up very rapidly for the arms and munitions that we have given to the Ukrainians. We are being too slow, I think, to let contracts to industry to replenish our stocks and continue to make such stocks available to the Ukrainians. It's one thing saying that we support them. It's another thing to make sure they don't lose. But we absolutely have to take the opportunity of giving them the opportunity to mount a counteroffensive in the late spring, early summer, so that they can win this war and defeat the Russians on the battlefield.

That must be the objective. Yeah, let's throw another country into the mix, should we? Saudi Arabia. President Zalanski met with the Saudi Foreign Minister recently. How do they fit into the mix? Well, they are an important third party country, as far as all this is concerned. I mean, I think we would like to expect that Saudi Arabia will want to support Ukraine. I think Saudi Arabia would probably see that in the round its best interests are to support the West. And there's a developing relationship between Saudi Arabia and America.

It's been a complex relationship up to now. But I think the Saudi rulers are probably coming to the conclusion that taking everything in the round, it's better to side with Ukraine, supported by the West, than to hedge its bets with Russia. Okay, unfortunately, we are out of time. But fascinating stuff as always, my Lord. Thank you for joining us on the programme this morning. Thank you.

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