Ukraine’s Friend of the Week: Vince Owen, Commanding Officer of the HMS Defender
We in Ukraine always love it when friendly navies visit our shores.
HMS Destroyer, the British Royal Navy’s warship, was the biggest star of the summer.
It first came to Odesa in late June and hosted the signing of a memorandum under which the U.K. will provide Ukraine with two minesweepers and brand new artillery boats.
The destroyer then entered Ukrainian waters around Crimea, which Russia claims as its own, completely ignoring Russia’s fist-shaking, before participating in the large-scale Sea Breeze international military exercises with other NATO navies and Ukraine
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry on July 13 decorated the warship’s commanding officer, Commander Vince Owen, with the medal “Defender of Ukraine.”
We at the Kyiv Post decided to join the fun and award Owen with the symbolic order of Yaroslav the Wise.
Owen takes this week’s prize as a representative of all of the U.K., which has recently boosted its efforts to help Ukraine resurrect its naval power lost in Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
The country stands ready to allocate over 1 billion pounds to give Ukraine warships and help build its naval infrastructure. It also runs joint training maneuvers with Ukraine’s military, providing our troops with valuable experience.
The U.K. is now our second greatest supporter in the war against Russia after the United States.
In gratitude, we name Owen Ukraine’s Friend of the Week.
His country’s contributions are in stark contrast to Berlin’s and Paris’s increasingly weak, apologetic stance towards the Kremlin.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week: German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
The era of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is ending, leaving an increasingly bad aftertaste.
Nord Stream 2, the Kremlin’s gas pipeline, is close to being completed in spite of all the warnings and protests from the international community.
Berlin and Paris keep trying to help Vladimir Putin’s Russia shed its status as international pariah. The highest cabinets of Europe’s top powers appear to have been bought with Russian money.
Zelensky’s visit to Germany this week was not successful — the Merkel government is choosing to keep its deal with the devil.
Adding insult to injury, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on July 12 canceled her pre-planned meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Berlin. There were no public explanations.
It seems that Germany will seize any opportunity to continue business as usual, even as Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its eighth year.
So this week, the symbolic Order of Lenin goes out to Kramp-Karrenbauer.
Today’s German officials love thinking they are on the right side of history. But humiliating a country that has lost over 13,000 lives to the guns of an aggressor, by refusing to meet to discuss national defense, is not something Berlin can be proud of.
