Latest updates: prime minister tells Nato conference UK will spend 2.5% of GDP on defence by 2030
Truss defends plans to cut British army by nearly 10,000 troops
And in another interview Liz Truss refused to endorse Boris Johnson’s claim that “toxic masculinity” helped to explain Vladimir Putin’s conduct and that he would not have invaded Ukraine if he were a woman. Asked if she agreed, she told Times Radio:
[Putin is] clearly is capable of very, very evil acts … I don’t pretend that I can conduct a psychological analysis on him, nor do I think it’s helpful …
I think that both women and men are capable of terrible and appalling acts.
All of Ukraine that has been invaded by Russia is illegally occupied. And, ultimately, the Russians need to be pushed out of all of that territory, and certainly what we shouldn’t be doing as friends and allies [of Ukraine] … is implying that there are any trade-offs or any bits of Ukrainian territory that could be traded away or compromised on.
It is realistic, and that is why we are supplying the extra lethal aid we’re supplying.