British Foreign Secretary David Cameron took part in the Ukrainian Breakfast on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Thursday. The event was tellingly titled Stand with Ukraine? with a question mark.
Cameron emphasized that the war in Ukraine is "the fight of our generation. It is like being a foreign secretary or prime minister in the 1930s, he said. Since then, we know that if you try to appease an aggressor, you get more aggression, he emphasized.
Britain "will stand with the Ukrainians in this fight for as long as it takes," Cameron insisted.
He recalled that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had pledged £2.5 billion of British support for Ukraine over the next year, and called on his colleagues in America and the European Union to provide their own, larger aid packages.
Addressing his American counterparts, Cameron noted that they had spent 10% of their defense budget and achieved the destruction of 50% of Russian military equipment without losing a single American life.
This is an amazing investment, Cameron said.
He also reiterated the view that the war was a strategic disaster for Putin, who lost half of the territory he seized during the invasion two years ago.
"He lost half of his military equipment. He lost 300,000 people, he saw NATO become bigger and stronger with the addition of two highly powerful countries – Finland and Sweden. It lost 20% of its Black Sea Fleet in a fight with a country that has only a relatively small navy.
Lord Cameron adds that Ukrainians are incredibly brave and incredibly united.
He recalled that the other day someone said that President Zelenskyy's rating had dropped from 90% to 80%. Cameron joked that when he was prime minister, he dreamed of at least 40%, let alone 80%.
Background. The day before, Cameron emphasized that the GDP of the countries that support Ukraine is 25 times higher than Russia's GDP, and that all that is needed is more aid. The minister noted that Britain is working "very hard" to use Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine.