The UK will need to show “strategic stamina” and brace itself for the war in Ukraine lasting years, Dominic Raab has said.
The foreign secretary said the economic sanctions being imposed on Russia were having an effect and that Vladimir Putin was resorting to “ever more brutal tactics” in response.
However, Raab insisted that the west could not support a no-fly zone above Ukraine because of the threat of a Europe-wide war.
Speaking as Boris Johnson unveiled a six-point plan to defeat Putin, Raab said the war will not be over quickly.
He told Sky News: “We’ve imposed the biggest sanctions package I can remember, with devastating consequences in terms of the rouble falling to record low, the fall in the stock market and we’re seeing the Russian central bank doubling interest rates.
“That has put the squeeze on Putin. What he’s now doing is responding with ever more brutal tactics to try and wrest back the initiative.
“I think the bottom line is none of the major cities have yet fallen, but we ought to be in no doubt that our mission, with our allies, is to ensure Putin fails in Ukraine.
“That is going to take some time. We’re talking about months if not years, and therefore we’ll need to show some strategic stamina, because this is not going to be over in days.”
Pressed on imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, Raab said this would lead to a “massive escalation” and would feed into the Russian president’s narrative of a war with the west.
He said: “The reality is we don’t think and our allies don’t think we want to be sucked into a direct military conflict with Vladimir Putin and that’s the position we’ve taken.”
Boris Johnson will this week meet with leaders from Canada, the Netherlands and central Europe as he seeks to bolster the global anti-Putin coalition.
He will tell them that Ukraine must receive more military and humanitarian support if Russia is to be beaten.
“Putin must fail and must be seen to fail in this act of aggression,” the PM will say.
“It is not enough to express our support for the rules-based international order – we must defend it against a sustained attempt to rewrite the rules by military force.
“The world is watching. It is not future historians but the people of Ukraine who will be our judge.”