A senior British security expert has said Vladimir Putin has “already lost” the war in Ukraine.
Lord Ricketts spoke out on Ukraine’s independence day, when the country celebrates its freedom as a sovereign nation.
Repeated attempts by Donald Trump to broker an end to the war, which began with Russia’s invasion of its neighbour in February 2022, have so far ended in failure.
But appearing on Sky News on Sunday, Lord Ricketts – who was the UK’s national security adviser from 2010 and 2012 – said Putin had already failed in his objectives.
He said: “We get reports that the Russians are gradually making progress on the ground in Ukraine, but if you look at the big picture, they’ve really lost badly already.
“One of the things they did not want was more Nato so close to Russia. Well, they’ve got Finland and Sweden in Nato now. They would never have joined if it hadn’t been for the war.
“And they’ve also got new determination by the Europeans to up their spending on defence to take on more responsibility and to stand with Ukraine.
“So I think in the big picture, Russia has already lost and Ukraine is now going to be a pro-western, democratic country for the long-term.”
He added: “There’s talk now that the Russians have had a million casualties killed and wounded – of course, Ukraine has had hundreds of thousands as well – and [Putin] has achieved none of his objectives, and he’s created a pro-western Ukraine.
“So yes, I think he’s miscalculated badly. His war, his obsession to try and wipe Ukraine off the map, to stop it being an independent, sovereign country.
“Now he’s faced with a more united Nato, Europe determined to defend itself and Ukraine, and we can only have enormous admiration for the stamina and the resilience of the civilians of Ukraine, who have been under a blitz attack of their towns and villages for three-and-a-half years.”
