BBCTreasury minister Darren Jones has said the UK government’s commitment to Ukraine is “resolute” amid fears incoming US President Donald Trump could push the country into giving up territory to Russia. Jones told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, “Ukraine should be able to recover its country as it was previously structured” and that there “shouldn’t be an element of conceding to illegal invasions from Russia”.He added he would not comment on “hypothetical scenarios” of a future US administration. Speaking to the same programme, Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said the UK had to find a “shared way of working with the US” on Ukraine.During the election campaign, Trump characterised the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a drain on US resources and said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in a day”.The president-elect has not offered details of how he would resolve the conflict, However, a research paper written by two of his former national security advisers has argued that the US should continue its weapons supply to Ukraine, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.To entice Russia, the West would promise to delay Ukraine’s entry into Nato, the military alliance of European and North American nations. The former advisers argued Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting its territory back from Russian occupation, but that it should negotiate based on current front lines.Asked how the UK government would respond if Trump did compel Ukraine to make territorial concessions, Jones said: “Our commitment to Ukraine as a country here in the UK is resolute. “We continue to support Ukraine with billions of pounds of funding every year and support from our armed forces in line with our commitments through Nato.”Asked if the UK still respected Ukraine’s desire to get back territories such as Crimea, Jones said: “That is the basis on which the UK is operating.”Dame Priti, who was appointed shadow foreign secretary earlier this week, agreed Ukraine should not have to concede Crimea.“No, of course not,” she said adding: “We’ve been unequivocal as Conservatives in government… we stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.” She added that Trump “hasn’t entered the White House yet” and it would be wrong to speculate on future US foreign policy.”I think, take one step back, let’s be mature about this. “We need to have dialogue and this comes back to having a strong relationship with our closest ally.”I would urge our government going forward to be constructive in those discussio …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnBBCTreasury minister Darren Jones has said the UK government’s commitment to Ukraine is “resolute” amid fears incoming US President Donald Trump could push the country into giving up territory to Russia. Jones told BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, “Ukraine should be able to recover its country as it was previously structured” and that there “shouldn’t be an element of conceding to illegal invasions from Russia”.He added he would not comment on “hypothetical scenarios” of a future US administration. Speaking to the same programme, Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said the UK had to find a “shared way of working with the US” on Ukraine.During the election campaign, Trump characterised the Russia-Ukraine conflict as a drain on US resources and said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in a day”.The president-elect has not offered details of how he would resolve the conflict, However, a research paper written by two of his former national security advisers has argued that the US should continue its weapons supply to Ukraine, but make the support conditional on Kyiv entering peace talks with Russia.To entice Russia, the West would promise to delay Ukraine’s entry into Nato, the military alliance of European and North American nations. The former advisers argued Ukraine should not give up its hopes of getting its territory back from Russian occupation, but that it should negotiate based on current front lines.Asked how the UK government would respond if Trump did compel Ukraine to make territorial concessions, Jones said: “Our commitment to Ukraine as a country here in the UK is resolute. “We continue to support Ukraine with billions of pounds of funding every year and support from our armed forces in line with our commitments through Nato.”Asked if the UK still respected Ukraine’s desire to get back territories such as Crimea, Jones said: “That is the basis on which the UK is operating.”Dame Priti, who was appointed shadow foreign secretary earlier this week, agreed Ukraine should not have to concede Crimea.“No, of course not,” she said adding: “We’ve been unequivocal as Conservatives in government… we stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine.” She added that Trump “hasn’t entered the White House yet” and it would be wrong to speculate on future US foreign policy.”I think, take one step back, let’s be mature about this. “We need to have dialogue and this comes back to having a strong relationship with our closest ally.”I would urge our government going forward to be constructive in those discussio …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
