Vladimir Putin could end up fighting a full-on Third World War with the West if the UK fails to take action in Ukraine, according to a panellist on BBC’s Question Time on Thursday evening. The BBC’s flagship political debate programme came to Scunthorpe, with host Fiona Bruce joined by Tory MP Jake Berry, Labour Mayor for West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin, Daily Mirror editor Alison Phillips and political satirist Konstantin Kisin.
Mr Berry, the MP for Rossendale and Darwen, said it was imperative for the UK to do whatever it could, adding that if the country had “stood more firm” against Moscow in Crimea, the war may not have happened.
He said: “I just sort of look back and think, if we’d have stood this firm against Putin when he rolled into Crimea, seven years ago, would we be having this conflict now?
“I suspect we wouldn’t.
“He’s a nasty bully who’s pursuing an illegal war on the soils of Europe, we cannot allow that to happen and we have to stand firm with the people of Ukraine.
“We should take pride as British people in having been one of the leading supporters of our allies in Ukraine from the start of this conflict.”
The UK, the US and now finally Germany have all agreed to supply tanks to Kyiv, with the possibility of fighter jets being next.
President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude for the decision, telling Sky News: “I would like to say thank you to Germany, to Britain and to the United States that they made this decision.
“Overall I am very thankful to the world for the support for Ukraine. But speaking frankly, the number of tanks and the delivery time to Ukraine is critical.”
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of the plan to send tanks: “I am convinced that many specialists understand the absurdity of this idea.
“Simply because of technological aspects, this is a rather disastrous plan.
“The main thing is, this is a completely obvious overestimation of the potential [the tanks] would add to the armed forces of Ukraine. It is yet another fallacy, a rather profound one.
“These tanks will burn down just like all the other ones… Except they cost a lot, and this will fall on the shoulders of European taxpayers.”