Healey warns against ‘jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war’
Defence Secretary John Healey visited what he called ‘Nato’s front line’ in the Finnmark region of Norway on Wednesday.
Talks between the US and Russia must not distract from the war in Ukraine, which could risk “jeopardising the peace”, the Defence Secretary has said.
Speaking at what he called “Nato’s front line” in Finnmark, Norway, John Healey warned that the Moscow administration is a “threat well beyond Ukraine and reminds us that Russian aggression is not confined to Ukraine”.
He visited the region as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of “living in this disinformation space”, after Mr Zelensky was left out of talks between the US and Russia.
The US president has previously said that Ukraine “should never have started” the war.
Asked whether the UK agreed with Mr Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine “started it”, Mr Healey told reporters on Wednesday: “Three years ago, one country illegally invaded another, and since then the Ukrainians have been fighting for their freedom.
“They’ve been fighting for their future, and they still are.
“So whilst all the focus may be on talks, not even negotiations, our concern as defence ministers is that we’re not jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war.
“And our job as defence ministers is to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position going into any talks, and that means continuing to step up the military aid that we in Europe, alongside, we argue, to the States, needs to be maintained, because the maximum pressure on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is going to mean the maximum chance that he will negotiate seriously.”
Mr Healey visited the Russian border with Norwegian defence minister Tore Sandvik, where they toured the region on a snowmobile and visited a military border watch post near Kirkenes.
The UK Defence Secretary said 70 Royal Navy ships had visited Norway during 2024 but he added the decision not to send ships into the Barents Sea, north of Norway and Russia, since 2022 was an “operational” one, after Norwegian media asked whether this was to ease tensions between London and Moscow.
Mr Healey said: “We’ve been working alongside the Norwegians, I’ve just mentioned in the last year in 2024, 70 Royal Naval vessels at different times were here working with Norway.
“These are not unconnected, we work together in this area of the high north of the North Atlantic, and we also work together to support Ukraine.
“So together our two countries lead the maritime capability coalition putting some of the maritime weaponry into the hands of the Ukrainians and building up, importantly, their strength to guarantee their own security in future.”
The Defence Secretary also said he and Mr Sandvik would “discuss the ways that we can work more closely and step up further in future”, adding: “This is my first visit to Norway.
“We could’ve met in Oslo, we could’ve met in the bilateral meeting conference rooms that governments have, but we wanted to be here in Finnmark.
“We wanted to come directly from Nato headquarters last week to be here, because this is Nato’s front line, it’s Norway’s border with Russia.
“But what you and we have done as nations over the decades is to stand together, defending Nato’s northern flank.
“And this time, when our partnership is growing closer and deeper with every day, this visit, this region, reminds us that Russia is a threat well beyond Ukraine and reminds us that Russian aggression is not confined to Ukraine.”
