UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly believes that London's partners may hesitate to provide Ukraine with long-range weapons because of fears of an escalation of the war.

Source: Cleverly in an interview with Voice of America, reported by European Pravda

Details: The UK Secretary said that "people are listening to Vladimir Putin's threats of escalation" and are wary of providing Ukraine with long-range weapons.

Quote: "But I keep saying that people who are worried about the fear of escalation need to realise that it is Vladimir Putin who is responsible for the escalation, because he initiated the full-scale invasion last February."

More details: Cleverly could not predict when these hesitations would stop, but referred to Volodymyr Zelenskyy's speech at the UN General Assembly, where he made it clear that "Ukraine is fighting on behalf of all of us".

"It [Ukraine – ed.] is fighting on behalf of all countries that believe in the rule of law and the UN Charter. It is therefore in the interest of all of us that Ukraine is successful in its defence," Cleverly said.

He also mentioned that the UK was the first to supply Ukraine with anti-tank missile systems and to unblock the supply of battle tanks and long-range missiles.

Background: As is well known, the UK and France provided Ukraine with long-range Storm Shadow and SCALP missiles, respectively, which the Ukrainian military has used effectively against Russian targets, including in occupied Crimea.

The United States and Germany are currently discussing the transfer of ATACMS and Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine, but there are a number of "sensitive issues" in this regard.

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