Wallace clarifies his statement on "Ukraine's gratitude" and receives hundreds of grateful comments

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that his words about "supporting Ukraine" caused a lot of interest but were partially distorted; he also assured that he would support Ukraine as long as necessary.

Source: Wallace on Facebook

Quote from Wallace: "For the record, as someone who has been at the forefront of galvanising support for Ukraine, I was discussing the challenges that can occur as we work towards the shared aim of helping Ukraine procure what they need to triumph against this illegal invasion.

I talked about the need for Ukraine to sometimes recognise that in many countries and in some Parliaments, there is not the strong support that there is in the UK. This was not a comment about governments, but more about citizens and MPs across the international community."  

Details: He added that the UK authorities are lucky that the population and all parties in the parliament support the country's efforts to provide aid to Ukraine.

"What my comments sought to reflect is that it is important to remember not to talk to ourselves, but to make efforts to reach out to the other citizens who still need persuading.   The comments on "Amazon" were made last year and were made to highlight that Britain's relationship with Ukraine is not 'transactional' but more a ‘partnership’," Wallace wrote.

Details: He stated that he would personally continue to support Ukraine "all the way, for as long as it takes".

But at the same time, he noted that national parliaments often have "competing needs", so "Ukraine and the UK need to continue to encourage that strong support by the use of facts and friendship".

In an hour and a half, Wallace's post gathered more than three hundred comments − the vast majority of which were words of gratitude in Ukrainian and English.

Background:

• Earlier, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace urged Ukraine to express more gratitude to its partners for their military aid instead of constantly making demands for new types of weapons to be unblocked.
• When President Zelenskyy was asked to comment on this statement, he assured that Ukraine is very grateful to the UK and its people for their support. But he also added that "we can wake up every morning and personally thank the minister".
• In turn, Vadym Prystaiko, Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, called President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's promise to thank UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace for military assistance every morning "unhealthy sarcasm". He later explained that he meant that sarcasm between friendly countries is not necessary.
• Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC), explained that Wallace's statement was under the influence of emotions, and he believes that the UK Defence Secretary has a different opinion than the one he voiced.

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