Labour MP Calls For "Sense Of Urgency" In Stepping Up Support For Ukraine

Labour MP Tim Roca has said that support for Ukraine needs to be “stepped up” urgently as the war enters a “new phase”.

Roca joined a group of new Labour MPs on a trip to Ukraine a couple of weeks ago, where they came face-to-face with those directly affected by the war. With winter approaching, Russia is attempting to degrade Ukrainian energy infrastructure and ramping up the number of drone attacks. More than 1,300 Shahed long-range drones were reportedly launched against Ukraine last month.

“It's clear that the war is entering into a new phase,” Roca told PoliticsHome.

“There's an incorrect feeling that this is a long war of attrition and the West tends to use phrases like ‘we'll support Ukraine for as long as it takes’ and it is really important that we're clear that we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“But what we need to emphasise now is actually a sense of urgency. Ukraine doesn't have as deep a pocket as Russia has. Ukraine is a smaller country, both in terms of manpower and economy. 

“They're losing many people every day… This is about us highlighting that Ukraine needs to be supported and that support needs to be stepped up.”

Roca said that it was clear that a continued ‘war of attrition’ – a prolonged period of conflict where each side seeks to gradually exhaust the other through small-scale attacks – is “not a good thing for Ukraine”.

“So instead of drip feeding support to Ukraine, we need to give it the weapons and the supplies that it needs now and have the conversations with partners so that they're doing the same thing,” he said.

The group of MPs took part in the Annual Meeting of Yalta European Strategy and visited sites across the country, including the main paediatric children's hospital in Kyiv