LONDON

The UK’s foreign secretary on Sunday voiced support for British citizens who want to go to Ukraine to fight Russian forces. 

Speaking to BBC News, Liz Truss said she would support British citizens if they decided to join Kyiv’s fight against Moscow.

“I do, I do support that and of course that is something that people can make their own decisions about. The people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy, not just for Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe because that is what President (Vladimir) Putin is challenging,” Truss said.

“Absolutely, if people want to support that struggle, I would support them in that,” Truss added when asked again if she would support UK citizens travelling abroad to fight.

Previous government policy had made it illegal for citizens to fight abroad. UK citizens who went to Syria and Iraq had faced jail sentences and revoking of their citizenship.  

‘Beginning of the end for Putin’

In a separate interview with Sky News, the foreign secretary said the Russian intervention in Ukraine could be “the beginning of the end for Putin.”

“We’ve already seen the response from the Russian government. We’ve seen the actions taken despite all of the warnings of the severe cost of this conflict in terms of humanitarian cost, in terms of cost for the Russian state,” Truss said.

“This could well be the beginning of the end for Putin and I fear that he is determined to use the most unsavory means in this war. But he should be aware that the International Criminal Court is already looking at what is happening in Ukraine and there will be serious consequences for him personally and the Russian government,” she added.

Truss made clear she did not trust Russia’s claims for wanting to negotiate, arguing that its continued military offensives throughout Ukraine were examples of Putin’s intent to violently subdue Kyiv.

According to Truss, if Moscow was serious about negotiations, it would immediately withdraw its troops from the country and cease its push against the democratically elected government in Kyiv.

“If the Russians are serious about negotiations, they need to remove their troops from Ukraine. They cannot negotiate with a gun to the head of the Ukrainians,” she said.

“We’ve already seen civilians targeted by the Russian government. I urge the Russians not to escalate this conflict, but we do need to be prepared for Russia to seek to use even worse weapons.”