I’m an ex-British soldier who fought in Ukraine – Starmer’s plan is too late

I’m an ex-British soldier who fought in Ukraine – Starmer’s plan is too late



Posted by theipaper

12 comments

  1. A former British Army soldier captured while fighting with Ukrainian Marines has hit out at “soundbites” after [Sir Keir Starmer said he was prepared to deploy UK troops](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/starmers-sudden-hawkishness-shown-up-eu-leaders-3539246?ico=in-line_link) as part of a peacekeeping force.

    Shaun Pinner, 51, was sentenced to death and tortured during five months as a prisoner of war after being seized by Russian-backed forces in[ April 2022](https://inews.co.uk/news/five-british-nationals-held-russian-backed-forces-released-1871334?ico=in-line_link) and held in occupied Donetsk.

    Serving with [the Ukrainian military](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/what-trump-wants-from-a-ukraine-peace-deal-with-russia-and-the-problems-he-will-face-3538603?ico=in-line_link), he fought for seven weeks after Russia invaded, first in frontline trenches before house-to-house fighting in the besieged city of Mariupol.

    The Prime Minister said the UK and Europe faces a “generational challenge” and “need to do more” after he revealed he would put a British peacekeeping force into Ukraine if an agreement to end the conflict with Russia was reached.

    But Pinner, a former Royal Anglian Regiment soldier, believes [Nato troops](https://inews.co.uk/news/britain-spend-defence-budget-not-enough-3538642?ico=in-line_link) should have been deployed to Ukraine already to counter the threat from Russia, in a conflict he described as “like World War Two on steroids.”

    He told *The i Paper*: “I’m fed up with the soundbites. I’m fed up with Macron soundbites. I’m fed up with British soundbites.

    “Until we see some definitive action I just take these like water off of a duck’s back at the moment.

    “I just want to see some action, rather than just more talk. Boots on the ground. We have been hearing this for years.”

    Troops should have been deployed down to the Dnipro River 18 months ago, he believes, accusing Europe of being “so slow to act it’s beggars belief.”

    He added: “I think we should have been doing this once we realised North Korea and Iran were in Russia’s coalition in invading Ukraine.”

    Pinner, who now lives in the city of Dnipro, three hours from the frontline, added USAid being slashed had seen his wife and other humanitarian workers furloughed or made redundant.

    Washington’s cuts, brought in after Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) dismantled the agency, were fraying the “stitching” that holds Ukraine’s wartime fabric together, he said.

  4. Power to the feller but he’s not a military strategist is he. More of a man that joined the army, couldn’t adjust to civvy life so went to Ukraine to carry it on.

  5. No. We’re not sending young British lads to die for a Europe that hates us.
    Not this time.

  6. How can it be too late? You can’t deploy peacekeeping troops until there’s a peace deal.

  7. Because squaddies are the best source of military strategy…

    This is an extremely complex and delicate situation. You need to make the conflict costly enough and unpopular enough that putin seeks a way out, without causing him to lose face at home.

    This shares a lot in common with Americas position in Vietnam.

  8. >”like WW2 on steroids”

    If you think the Ukraine war is anything like the eastern front, then honestly, your opinion on the war should be disregarded

  9. Well, of course a shell-shocked former soldier whose life revolved around death and destruction is going to call for more war.

    Opinion discarded. Find a therapist and establish a normal life for yourself instead of calling for yet more death and destruction.

  10. May as well just jack it in so. This guy couldn’t be wrong

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