You’re a true hero Boris, says Zelensky
As Kremlin celebrates the removal of man they call ‘Public Enemy No1’
PRESIDENT Volodymyr Zelensky last night hailed Boris Johnson as ‘a true friend of Ukraine’ for his unwavering support against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
‘He totally supported Ukraine,’ Mr Zelensky told an interviewer.
‘The United Kingdom is on the right side of history.’
The Ukrainian leader later called Mr Johnson to express his ‘sadness’ about his resignation as Prime Minister.
‘We don’t doubt that Great Britain’s support will continue, but your personal leadership and your charisma made it special,’ he said in a statement.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Mr Johnson ‘took a number of crucial decisions to help Ukraine defend itself and ultimately win this war in the future’. He added: ‘We will always remember his visit to Ukraine in the still dark hour of April. Johnson is a man of no fear ready to take risks for the cause he believes in.’
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Mr Zelensky, also lavished praise on the Prime Minister ‘for realising the threat of the Russian monster’ before his European counterparts did.
‘Mr Johnson, a man who began to call a spade a spade from the beginning,’ he said. Before Vladimir Putin launched his assault, Mr Johnson was the West’s most fervent and vocal champion of arming Ukraine to fight back against Russian troops as French president Emmanuel Macron tried and failed to avert the war.
Britain has given just over £2billion in military aid to the Ukrainian government so far, including hi-tech anti-tank missiles and multiple rocket launcher systems. The UK military has been training Ukraine’s army since 2015 after Russia seized Crimea the previous year.
Under Mr Johnson’s leadership, the British Government also slapped harsh sanctions on Russian oligarchs and officials close to Putin, including ex-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
The PM – labelled ‘Public Enemy No1’ by the Kremlin – upstaged Mr Macron once more by being the first G7 leader to visit the Ukrainian capital since the outbreak of war.
Mr Johnson has been lauded by the country’s politicians and people alike, who have praised his tough stance on standing up to Moscow’s aggression.
A road in the town of Fontanka, near Odesa, has even been renamed ‘Boris Johnson Street’. Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko said: ‘Boris Johnson has been one of the most vocal leaders and one of the pioneers of condemning Russian aggression and actually having words lead to action... The next leader of the British Government will have that high mark to attain.’
Another MP Oleksiy Goncharenko tweeted to Mr Johnson yesterday: ‘Ukraine is infinitely grateful... You will forever remain in our history.’
Anna Boyko, a 37-year-old dentist from Odesa, said she burst into tears when she heard the Prime Minister would be standing down. ‘I was crying because Mr Johnson was the first to help us and the one who really believed in our victory,’ she said.
In Russia, the tone was markedly different, with Putin’s chief propagandist Dmitry Peskov rejoicing at Mr Johnson’s demise. The Kremlin spokesman said: ‘He doesn’t like us – we don’t like him either.’
Maria Zakharova, head spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry, said Mr Johnson’s fall was a symptom of the decline of the West. She added: ‘The moral of the story is: Do not seek to destroy Russia.’ Dmitry Medvedev, a Russian former president and another Putin loyalist, said Mr Johnson’s decision to stand down was the ‘rightful result of British impudence and politics from the gutter’.
‘You will remain in our history’