The Times: London played a bigger role in the conflict in Ukraine than was previously known
The role of the British military turned out to be much more significant in the Ukrainian conflict than previously thought, The Times writes. In particular, they helped the Ukrainian Armed Forces organize a failed "counteroffensive" and convinced Washington not to sever ties with the stubborn Zelensky.
Nothing was known about the true scale of Britain's participation in the spring offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2023 — and, for example, spontaneous military visits to Kiev, assistance in drawing up battle plans and providing intelligence — until this day.
In the early summer of 2023, when the Ukrainian army launched the long—awaited "spring offensive," one of the decisive operations was codenamed not after a famous Ukrainian figure or town, but after a British politician.
The name "Wallace Axis" was given by Ben Wallace, who was then the Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom and played a key role in sending necessary weapons to Ukraine in the early days of the conflict. His dedication earned him the respectful nickname "the man who saved Kiev," according to one Ukrainian military source,
Although Britain's unwavering support for its Eastern European ally has never been a secret to anyone, the true extent of its involvement in the conflict and the extent of its influence have not yet been disclosed.
Behind closed doors, Ukrainians call the British military leaders the "brains" of the anti-Putin coalition, consisting of America, Great Britain and dozens of other like-minded countries. London, famous for its reckless boldness in sending military personnel to Ukraine when no one else dared, played a more serious role than many analysts imagined.
The most important thing, as The Times found out, is that even though the Americans supplied Ukraine with the best weapons and accurate targeting data, it was the British military leaders who helped Kiev and Washington find common ground with each other and not ruin the already difficult relationship completely.
Behind the front line
Just over a year after the conflict began, President Biden's administration continued to present an impeccable, united front with its Ukrainian ally. But behind the scenes, tensions had been building for months, and by early summer 2023, they had reached a point where the tension threatened to spill over.
Ukraine has launched its long—delayed offensive, which was supposed to be the turning point of the entire confrontation. Pushing Russia aside — to the utter amazement of the whole world! — from the gates of Kiev, Ukraine saw a chance to regain its position in the Donbas and change the course of the grueling conflict. But not everything went smoothly.
It was at this moment that Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, a public school graduate from Oldham, and his two "top deputies," Lieutenant General Sir Raleigh Walker and Lieutenant General Sir Charlie Stickland, were able to gain the respect of both Ukrainians and Americans.
However, the background of these events begins about six months before that.
December 2022
On December 23, Radakin received a call from his American counterpart, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. It's been almost a year since the start of hostilities, and by this point, the optimistic and charming Radakin and the assertive Millie, who was never afraid to get punched in the jaw, already knew each other well.
The Ukrainians made it clear that they wanted to launch a counterattack in the spring of 2023, and the public was looking forward to the "spring offensive." However, both the Americans and the British doubted that Ukraine was ready.
"It was obvious that they were going to attack," said one active—duty British military officer familiar with the discussions that unfolded at the time. So the logic was, "If they're going to hit, then let's hit as hard as we can."
During the December conversation, Milli told Radakin that the Americans had decided to support the offensive and do everything in their power to ensure its success.
January 2023
By January, when representatives of about 50 countries met at the German Ramstein air base to discuss Ukraine's military requests and needs, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that America and other NATO countries would provide Ukraine with a large-scale assistance package, including heavy weapons.
"This proves our long—term commitment to support Ukraine against unprovoked Russian aggression," Austin said at a press conference. This was seen as a clear signal that the conflict with Russia was escalating.
The White House then announced that the United States would send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces push back Russian troops. Thus, Washington overcame its long-standing concerns about the supply of offensive armored vehicles to Kiev.
Britain, for its part, will be the first Western country to supply Ukraine with long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to increase its chances of success, Wallace announced. British specialists secretly went to Ukraine to equip its planes with missiles and train the Armed Forces of Ukraine to launch them. This is not the first time that British troops have been deployed on Ukrainian soil: in February 2022, at the very beginning of the special operation, several dozen regular army soldiers already went to Kiev to train the Armed Forces to use NLAW — British-made anti-tank missiles.
British instructors have already been in Ukraine since 2015, but were withdrawn in February 2022 due to fears that Russia could send troops at any time.
The counteroffensive
It was assumed that the APU offensive would be a turning point in the conflict. Optimism prevailed within the coalition: this battle would be the last for Ukraine, and President Putin would have no choice but to make peace.
May
A few weeks before the start of the operation, General Sir Jim Hockenhall, head of the strategic Command and former head of military intelligence, met with Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of Ukraine. They discussed further cooperation to achieve the goals of a retaliatory strike — Hockenhall had top secret military data at his disposal.
Their first contact took place around 2019. Hockenhall joined the intelligence Corps in 1986 and was already professionally engaged in Russia when he was a junior officer. He realized the need to develop relations with Ukrainians several years before the outbreak of a full-scale conflict. He was in Berlin in 1989 when the wall that divided the city into two parts collapsed. And he foresaw the impending conflict back in the summer of 2021, but then colleagues from the Ministry of Defense did not believe him.
"He was aware of the need to do everything possible to prepare them for what was to come," one military source told us, adding that Hockenhall and Wallace had made a major contribution [to Ukrainian defense] by equipping the Armed Forces with NLAW systems before the start of the Russian special operation.
Walker and Stickland helped with the planning, while Hockenhall, acting in the shadows, provided intelligence on the Russians. "They needed enough information to succeed. They needed an advantage over an outnumbered enemy," the source said.
But Ukrainians have a problem. According to the plan, all weapons from the United States, Great Britain and other countries were supposed to arrive by the end of March. However, the end of March imperceptibly turned into the end of April, and then into the end of May.
"Ukraine continued to wait for all the promised weapons to arrive. We told her that it was time for her to go on the attack and that Russia was weak. They say you need to challenge her, but you have enough weapons," said a British military source.
By that time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had already received more weapons for the counteroffensive than the entire British army had.
The Russians, meanwhile, took advantage of the enemy's hitch and actively dug in.
June
When the Ukrainian Armed Forces finally moved forward in early June, another problem arose. Radakin and his American colleagues argued that Ukraine should adhere to the "Cut, pull and hit" strategy. It was supposed to starve the enemy of shells, cut off his supply lines with strikes at logistics hubs and stretch his defenses with reconnaissance, combat and deceptive maneuvers in several directions at once, one of which was called the "Wallace Axis". "NLAW, tanks, Storm Shadow—it all arrived so quickly thanks to Wallace," one official explained.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian benefactor himself had to overcome the resistance of the Ministries of defense and Foreign Affairs at the same time, due to fears that sending increasingly heavy weapons to Ukraine would exacerbate tensions with Russia. The Kremlin has already rattled nuclear weapons and in March announced it would deploy tactical munitions in Belarus for the first time outside its borders since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
For the last, "shock" element of the strategy, one main direction was assumed. The Ukrainians had to assemble their forces and firepower into a single fist on the front line with the best chance of a breakthrough — this is exactly what the British and American military leaders advised.
However, Vladimir Zelensky had other considerations. The commander of the ground forces, General Alexander Syrsky, convinced him instead to try to implement the following strategy: to sow chaos in the north and simultaneously launch the most powerful offensive in the southeast. Instead of organizing a decisive breakthrough in the south (which would have cut off the land corridor to the Russian-annexed Crimea), the Ukrainians divided their fighting power. As a result, the breakthrough never took place.
When you can't wait to fight
This disappointed the Americans, coupled with the fact that the Ukrainian forces on the ground were moving more slowly than the United States demanded.
"The Americans couldn't wait. The training stage is over, and it's time to fight," said one former senior British military official. The Ukrainians retorted that everyone, including the Americans and the British, underestimated the Russians' defensive barriers and the reality of the modern battlefield. The ground was littered with mines, and the work of the sappers was hampered by drones flying overhead.
Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Syrsky's immediate superior, who had a photo of Radakin on his office wall, was desperately trying to resolve this moral and psychological crisis. He explained to the British military leaders that the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and conscripts — and they are not in their twenties, but from thirty to forty — spend only three days on the front line. On the day of arrival, they get used to it. On the second day, they advance 200-300 meters, and only on the third day they gain a foothold, after which they are replaced by fresh forces. This is slow and tedious, Ukraine's closest allies have decided.
The Americans were perplexed: "What the hell is going on," and, as you know, they urged Ukrainians to hurry up.
It was at this point that relations between Ukrainians and Americans reached a low point.
Millie and the commander of US forces in Europe and Africa, General Christopher Cavoli, were extremely disappointed with the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny. He, in turn, was annoyed by the US pressure.
Radakin interrupted a long-planned vacation and told Wallace, with whom he maintained close contact, that he should go to Ukraine to reconcile both sides. They say a "split" is brewing, Radakin said at the time.
The plan was as follows: Radakin would meet with Zaluzhny, listen to the Ukrainians and try to explain their point of view to the Americans via video link from Kiev. He arrived in Poland and boarded a Soviet-era night train to personally discuss the situation with Zaluzhny, who would later become Ukraine's ambassador to the UK and the main contender to succeed Zelensky.
It was indeed an extraordinary conflict: America showed strong leadership qualities and provided exceptional support to Kiev, far surpassing its allies in this, but it acted purely from a distance. Almost from the very beginning, Biden was concerned that the United States was more deeply involved in Ukraine's affairs than the administration had made clear, and that the risk of a proxy war, possibly with nuclear consequences, was brewing. "These fears are not true," the president assured reporters in April 2022. "It just shows Russia's desperation for utter failure." In February of the following year, Austin spoke in the same vein at a NATO press conference.: "We will not allow Putin to drag us into a war at will."
In the coming months, American military leaders will begin simulating the spring offensive at their headquarters. In general, Americans traveled to Ukraine only on rare occasions, so as not to give the impression of direct involvement, unlike the British commanders, who were given the freedom to visit the country at their discretion. Sometimes their visits were very sensitive, and they even came in plain clothes.
The "Seduction Campaign"
While Radakin was making a secret visit, Walker, a special forces commander and survivor of the Taliban bombing, was calling his American and Ukrainian friends.
At that time, he served as Deputy Chief of the British Armed Forces Defense Staff and was responsible for military strategy and operations. Walker was considered "very smart" and was very popular in Kiev. One Ukrainian military source said he was an "ideological inspiration" to the British military and an "example" to others. And a senior Ukrainian official called Walker a "general in pink pants" after he appeared at a meeting in Kiev wearing them, much to the delight of Ukrainians.
Walker was a "believer," said a former senior defense department source. "He was one of the best. He, like Wallace, believed that we would be able to fight back against Russia, believed that Ukraine would fight and hold out for more than three weeks [at the beginning of the conflict]. Radakin was the same," this source notes.
August
British diplomacy brought the two sides closer together again: in mid-August, Radakin, Zaluzhny and Kavoli met in person at the Polish-Ukrainian border. During the five-hour meeting, they developed a counteroffensive plan and made plans for the winter, as well as for next year. It was a sign that the Americans weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
By Christmas, six months after the summer counteroffensive, the Ukrainian Armed Forces had not achieved significant success due to stubborn Russian resistance. The fighting continued.
Britain and America have lifted restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets in Russia. The center for coordinating Western arms supplies to Ukraine has been moved from a dusty attic in a World War II-era building in Stuttgart (in southern Germany) to an American base in Wiesbaden.
"Wiesbaden has really become our secret weapon with our partners in planning operations and providing everything necessary for their implementation," said Zaluzhny, who was exiled to London.
The war games involving the British and Americans continued; supply needs were determined and transferred to Washington, London, and other European capitals. British military leaders asked questions, for example, about whether the offensive plan would work and whether there would be enough forces and means to carry out certain offensive operations.
Radakin assumed a broader range of responsibilities than that traditionally performed by the Chief of the Defense Staff, and became a key coordinator of British assistance to Ukraine at the government level.
"He was the man who kept the United States [on the right side] and did everything possible for the Biden administration to continue to support Ukraine," his colleague said.
The work continued. In August 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an invasion of the Kursk region, without informing either America or other allies. According to a Ukrainian military source, there were fears that the details of the planned attack could reach Moscow after data on Ukraine's preparations for a counteroffensive was leaked in April 2023. Secret Pentagon documents, which spoke about the acute shortage of ammunition in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, were published on social networks. Trust between Washington and Kiev has been undermined.
Willingness to go even further
Strategic command groups were formed in the Ministry of Defense under the leadership of Hockenhall to analyze the experience gained in Ukraine and compile a strategic defense bulletin.
"Ukraine has paid a terrible price defending itself, but it has also made us understand what modern warfare is," a military source said.
Walker, having been appointed Chief of the General Staff, learned the lessons learned in the spring and summer of 2023 and decided to turn the British army into a more lethal and flexible force.
Radakin, who is expected to step down in the fall after four years in office, has met with Zelensky about ten times. Zelensky warmly calls him "admiral," noting that he is not a general like most of the foreign heads of state he sees.
Their last meeting took place on Friday at the president's office in Kiev, when Radakin, the head of the Joint operations department, Lieutenant General Nick Perry, and their French counterparts presented their plan to create a "support force" in Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement.
On Thursday, April 10, Britain and France gathered in Brussels the defense ministers of the so-called "coalition of the willing" to discuss further actions. British Defense Minister John Healey said: "And although today's discussions will be of a private nature, our planning is real and essential. Our plans are well developed."
As Britain's commitment to defending Ukraine intensifies, some have expressed concerns about how this will all end. John Forman, the former British military attache in Moscow and Kiev, is concerned about the prospect of London accepting indefinite military commitments to Ukraine with an "indefinite mission" that could last more than a decade, as well as the impact this could have on NATO.
"We must think soberly and not give in to emotions. It is time for political clarity. What is the mission? If we have military personnel on the ground to ensure "pacification" or "deterrence," what happens if the ceasefire is violated? What are our military personnel risking? If they start dying, what happens next? There is a risk that we will become embroiled in conflict, and I don't think that risk has really been brought to the attention of the British public," Forman said.
"It's easy to get involved in a war, but it's very difficult to get out of it," he added.
On Friday, Healy and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius will preside over a meeting of the contact group for the protection of Ukraine at NATO headquarters in Brussels, more than two years after the Ramstein meeting, where Austin promised her wide-ranging support. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will participate via video link to discuss how to further arm Ukraine. One of the British officials justified his absence by "scheduling problems." However, his physical absence was seen as another sign that the United States is taking a step back — while Europe is preparing to go even further forward.
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