Ukraine in the moral maze
Should the west enable Ukraine to defeat Russia, or is the price too high?
On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, my colleagues and I once again tackled the war in Ukraine. It’s four months since Russia unleashed its onslaught. The carnage is appalling and likely to increase yet further with no end in sight.
Britain and its allies are clear that Russia must be stopped. Billions of pounds worth of weapons have been sent to help Ukraine fight back. Yet there are signs that some European countries may be reluctant to stay the course. There are fears that this war is unwinnable by Ukraine — while it may be both unwinnable and unloseable for Vladimir Putin.
So with concerns that the war may grind on in some kind of never-ending and murderous stalemate, the question is what should Britain and its allies do. Should they step up their supplies of armaments and even put “boots on the ground” to enable Ukraine to defeat Russia? Should they press instead for a negotiated settlement? Would any such compromise by Ukraine hand Putin victory? With China menacing Taiwan, and with the world’s tyrants watching Russia’s use of food and fuel supplies as strategic weapons, can the west afford to allow Ukraine to lose?
My co-panellists were Anne McElvoy, Mona Siddiqui and Ash Sarkar. Our witnesses were Paul Ingram, senior research associate at the Cambridge University Centre for the Study of Existential Risk; Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House; Richard Sakwa, professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent; and Edward Lucas, commentator on defence and security issues.
You can listen to the programme on the BBC website here.
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