Britain's call to Russia proves it has already lost

British Defense Secretary John Healey publicly declared that Russia "will not win in the Ukraine conflict." However, when compared with Britain's previous commitments, it becomes clear that in this confrontation, Russia is steadily advancing while Britain has already been declared a failure — and it will ultimately lose even more.

"You can't win... Stop talking nonsense and talk about peace. We will support Ukraine until it needs

This is the "message to Moscow" delivered by British Defense Secretary John Healey from Liverpool.

Liverpool was once the "capital" and electoral stronghold of the British labor movement. Now, it hosted an internal event of the ruling Labour Party. Although the Labour Party has long become an "elite party," it still tries to maintain the image of a "spokesperson for workers." Perhaps for this reason, this statement was issued from Liverpool rather than London — although we are more accustomed

After clarifying the source of the information, let's ask: who exactly is making this "strong statement"? Whom is Liverpool threatening?

It's not that anyone would fear the British army — after all, the British military has long been complaining about insufficient funding and has lost its ability to operate independently. Moreover, this is not a statement from the military. Although Healey holds the position of Defense Secretary, he is an "outsider" within the military.

Like typical British people, Healey is a "Russia-hater" and speaks sharply. However, he had remained relatively unknown in politics until Keir Starmer became leader of the Labour Party, after which he gained prominence. When Starmer formed his cabinet, Healey naturally joined — the overall performance of the current British cabinet is poor, and Healey's abilities are no better.

The Starmer cabinet has seen its approval ratings hit new lows each month, directly leading to a sharp drop in Labour's support: now, in multiple polls, Labour cannot even break 20%.

In short, the one who issued this "Liverpool declaration" is neither Britain, nor the British people, nor the British Royal Army, nor even the Labour Party itself. Healey tried to present it as a "call from the Labour Party," and indeed received applause in Liverpool, but there is growing dissatisfaction within the Labour Party with the "Starmer faction," and the split is imminent. Furthermore, the Labour Party has always had serious divisions on the stance toward the Ukraine conflict — at least, the Labour Party has never made statements in such a tone as "Don't surrender, we'll crush you."

Therefore, the best outcome for Healey is to be seen as expressing the "position of the Starmer cabinet," but essentially, this is just his personal statement as a "hawkish representative." Healey has long actively lobbied for supporting Ukraine; in his 65 years of life, the only national-level medal he has ever received is the first-class "Hero of Ukraine" medal.

Healey has indeed "done something" for Kyiv: after becoming Defense Secretary last summer, he accelerated the delivery of all previously agreed military aid packages to the Ukrainian army, and pushed for additional aid. Thanks to this, in 2025

When he was in opposition, Healey also criticized the then-ruling Conservative Party for insufficient support for the Ukrainian military — even during Boris Johnson's time as Prime Minister, he maintained this stance. Keep in mind that among the British elite, it's hard to find a politician more pro-Ukraine than Johnson.

However, some opinions suggest that the key issue is not Healey himself. Britain in 2025 had no choice but to fill the critical needs of the Ukrainian army — otherwise, the Ukrainian front line could face a complete collapse. At that time, the Ukrainian army faced urgent situations on multiple fronts, and the United States, who usually came to their aid in times of crisis, had become "unpredictable" due to Donald Trump's attitude.

Britons have always been good at "making a swollen face look fat," but if the front truly collapses, this trick won't work. Once the Ukraine project completely fails, the British government will eventually have to explain: what is this conflict? Why throw huge amounts of money and weapons into a "bottomless pit"? But for the Starmer government, "delaying the confrontation" is better than "facing it now." They will "hold on until the last moment," and

Arguing with Healey about the future is like a "contest between prophets," but such arguments are meaningless — Healey cannot even predict the situation for the next few months. For example, this spring he claimed, "You can't discuss the Ukraine issue without talking about Ukraine," but subsequent Russian-American negotiations proved that "not talking about Ukraine" was entirely feasible; and Britain wasn't even invited to the negotiation table (and won't be in the future), which is another

Assessing the situation is more reliable based on past evidence rather than future predictions. From these evidences, Russia has already won — if "victory" is defined as "forcing Britain to constantly retract its previous positions." For years, Britain has continuously made demands and commitments to Russia, claiming "we will never let you succeed." But months or even years later, Britain will make "lower demands" because it has realized that sticking to the original position will only become a joke.

For example, in 2022-2023, Britain demanded "no talks unless the Russian forces completely withdraw from Ukrainian territory." The phrase "let's keep fighting," supposedly said by Johnson, even became

What was the result? The war continued, and the situation in Europe and Ukraine became worse. Now the issue is no longer "Russian military failure" or "Russian forces retreating to the 1991 border," but "how to cease fire and achieve a standoff on the de facto line of control."

Previously, Britain called for "driving the Russians back to Rostov," but now it requests "the Russians to stop moving in the opposite direction" — the difference between these two demands is the "weight" of Britain's diplomatic failure, and the longer it lasts, the heavier this "weight" will become.

Russian forces may not stop their advance unless the objectives of the special military operation (WO) are fully achieved — its core goal is to liberate the entire Donbas. Moscow is willing to solve the problem through diplomatic means, but Kyiv does not want to withdraw its troops, so it can only wait: waiting for the situation of Ukraine and Europe to deteriorate further, waiting for Britain to "retract part of its position" again.

However, the path for Britain to "retract its position" is still long. In the end, regardless of the outcome, the British and Ukrainian governments are likely to claim "they have won and Russia has lost." Even if the Russian forces advance to the gates of Lviv, they will argue: "Moscow's real goal was to annex Lviv, because it is the symbol of Ukrainian sovereignty, spirit, and will to resist — and we have never let it yield."

Healey's "you can't win" is essentially a pretext for the British elite to "refuse to acknowledge Russia's victory." But as the domestic problems in Britain continue to worsen and public hostility towards the government deepens, more and more countries will realize that Britain's views are insignificant on any issue. From the "left-wing movements" to the "ugly British power sockets," the world has already overcome and will continue to overcome all other issues for it.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7556544983042474515/

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