None of us will ever forget where we were on that grim morning three years ago when Vladimir Putin began his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As footage of missile strikes raining down on Ukrainian cities played on screens, it felt at times as if Putin might have struck a decisive blow not just against Ukraine, but against the democratic values we share with our Ukrainian friends.
It felt like a weak and divided West – still reeling from the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan months prior, and, in the case of Europe, still addicted to cheap Russian gas – would struggle to unite and provide Ukrainians with the support they needed.
But Putin underestimated the deep strength of the ideals that we share with our allies, including Ukraine, and the power of those fundamental values: democracy, truth, and liberty. We were able to come together and enable brave Ukrainians to repel Putin’s advances, and even to reclaim some of their territory.
So I am deeply saddened that the palpable sense of dread about what comes next reminds me of how things felt back in February 2022. Except that this time, a strange inversion has taken place. The occupant of the Oval Office – the leader of the free world – seems happier to side with the brutal tyrant Putin than to support America’s allies. It feels like we have fallen through the looking glass.
Just a few days ago, we saw US vice-president JD Vance lecture Europe on freedom of speech and democracy while cosying up to Putin, who has made a career out of trampling both. We have Trump’s stooge, Elon Musk, grimly claiming that Zelensky is “feeding off the dead bodies of soldiers”. And the commander in chief himself, Donald Trump, delivering talking points that feel more likely to have come from Moscow than Mar-a-Lago. Labelling Zelensky a “dictator”. Claiming that Ukraine started the war. This is more than Trump’s usual stream of misinformation. At dark times like these, we should be immensely thankful for our great journalistic institutions in the UK.
There’s no doubt that people across Britain will have felt astonished and deeply alarmed at these rapidly unfolding events. Families across the UK opened their doors wide for Ukrainian refugees in 2022. We know that Ukraine’s fight for democracy and liberty is our fight, too. British journalists have been at the forefront of vital investigative work into Putin’s sources of illicit wealth, giving us a greater ability to shut down the loopholes that enable him to funnel resources to his front lines.
So the time has come for Britain to draw a line amidst this great betrayal of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and our European allies. That means coming together at home, where it is incumbent on the entire British political spectrum to speak with one voice in opposition to Trump’s lies, and to establish a consensus for ramping up defence spending, including looking at 3 per cent of GDP.
And it means leading overseas: in Europe, where we should immediately convene a summit to begin the seizure of the tens of billions of pounds’ worth of frozen Russian assets, which are at our fingertips, and repurpose them for Ukraine.
And across the Atlantic, too.
Prime minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington this week to meet with the US president. As he does so, he must remember that Trump is a bully who preys on weakness. Trump has said so himself: it is the basis of his book, The Art of the Deal. So, let us deal with Trump. We will gain nothing from sitting in silence and hoping that he does not pick on us.
Starmer must stand up on behalf of Britain in the face of Trump’s assault on truth, democracy and liberty, and against his attempts to dismantle the post-Second World War security architecture of our continent. I strongly support The Independent’s stand on this issue.
Sir Ed Davey MP is leader of the Liberal Democrats
