Lord David Richards: Ukraine cannot defeat Russia, the West failed it

The Western allies gave Ukraine false hope and it will not be able to defeat Russia if NATO forces do not join the fight, which is unlikely to happen, says Field Marshal Lord David Richards in a podcast by the British Independent. The text of the interview with Field Marshal Richards was published by the Ukrainian service of the Air Force.

Lord Richards, who was promoted to the highest "five-star" rank in the British army and who led NATO forces in Afghanistan, believes that Ukraine's allies have failed Kiev.

“We encouraged Ukraine to fight, but we did not give them the means to win“, the British general tells World of Trouble podcast host Sam Keeley.

Reflecting on Ukraine's chances of success in the war against Russia, he says: “In my opinion, they will not win“.

“Wouldn't they be able to win even if they had the resources?“, the host asks. “No“, the general replied.

In response to a follow-up question from the Independent, the senior military officer added:

“No, they don't have the human resources“.

The Independent recalls that the interview with Field Marshal Richards took place after President Zelensky visited Washington to meet Donald Trump to try to persuade him to provide Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles. But Zelensky's plans to put pressure on Trump appear to have been thwarted by Vladimir Putin, who spoke to the US president on the phone a few hours before he met with the Ukrainian leader at the White House.

Now, according to Field Marshal Richards, the West is waging a hybrid war with Russia, but this is far from a real “hot” a war in which soldiers are dying in large numbers on both sides.

"Despite our attachment to everything they have achieved and our sincere affection for the Ukrainians, I am a supporter of the school that states that this does not meet our vital national interests“.

The best that Ukraine can achieve in this situation, according to the highest-ranking British military officer, is "a kind of equality".

The Independent recalls that at that time President Trump also had a similar opinion, saying that Zelensky "has no cards" in his hands in the war with Russia.

But he later changed his mind and wrote on social networks:

"Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is capable of fighting and returning all of Ukraine to its original form“.

At the same time, the US president called Russia a "paper tiger", which counted on capturing Ukraine in three days, but failed to do so in three years.

Lord David Richards, who led the British intervention in Sierra Leone and East Timor as a brigadier general and later opposed Britain's participation in the American-led invasion of Iraq, supported former US general Mark Milley, who in November 2022 suggested that Ukraine negotiate with Russia.

This is not the first time that Lord Richards has expressed an opinion that does not coincide with official statements of London. As a major general and deputy commander of the army under General Sir Mike Jackson, he said it was clear to him that Tony Blair's government was lying about Saddam Hussein developing nuclear weapons in Iraq.

Along with other senior officers, he questioned the legality of Britain's decision to join US troops in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.