Wallace Admits UK, Allies Were Building Ukraines Military Capability Before Conflict

 UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Wednesday that the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Sweden had been investing in Ukraine and building up the country's military capabilities before the start of the conflict in February 2022.

"Ultimately culturally it is accepted that Ukraine will join NATO. When that happens is either condition-based... Also, before this invasion, Britain with Sweden, Canada, the United States were investing in Ukraine and building their capabilities," Wallace told a public forum on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.

The minister said the NATO leaders' meeting on Tuesday had confirmed the cultural acceptance that Ukraine would join NATO one day, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his disappointment about not getting a formal invitation to join the bloc.

"There is now a complete acceptance that Ukraine will join NATO. It is not an 'if' anymore but it is a 'when'," Wallace said.

In 2014-2015, Ukraine negotiated a series of measures with Russia, France and Germany known as the Minsk Agreements aimed at a political resolution of its conflict with its breakaway eastern region of Donbas.