British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on Wednesday suggested that Ukraine needed to show more gratitude to its Western allies for their assistance to Kyiv.
Wallace’s remarks came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy complained that his country had not been given a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining NATO during the summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.
“Whether we like it or not, people want to see a bit of gratitude,” Wallace said at a briefing on the sidelines of the NATO summit when asked about Zelenskyy’s comments that it was “absurd” for Kyiv to be told it would be welcome in the alliance but not given a date or exact conditions.
He said Ukrainians sometimes request that other countries hand over their own weapons stocks.
The UK is not an “Amazon” delivery service for weapons to Ukraine, and it might be wise to let its supporters “see gratitude,” Wallace said.
“Sometimes you have to persuade lawmakers on the (Capitol) Hill in America. you’ve got to persuade doubting politicians in other countries that you know that it’s worth it and it’s worthwhile and that they’re getting something for it,” he added.
The defense secretary said he too told the Ukrainians in June last year that Britain was not the online delivery service when it came to supplying arms.
“I said to the Ukrainians last year, when I drove 11 hours to (Kyiv to) be given a list – I said, I am not Amazon.”
Later, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reacted to the defense secretary’s comments, saying Zelenskyy had “expressed his gratitude for what we’ve done on a number of occasions.”
Zelenskyy also responded by saying Ukraine has always been grateful to the UK, its prime ministers, and the defense secretary.
“I didn’t know what he (Wallace) meant and how else I should express my words of gratitude,” he said.
“We could get up in the morning and express our words of gratitude personally to the minister,” he joked, and said, “We are grateful to the UK.”