UK’s Johnson hails Kyiv’s ‘finest hour’ and gives more weapons
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Ukraine yesterday that Britain would keep supplying weapons until “no one will ever dare to attack you again”.
As the first foreign leader to address the country’s parliament during its war with Russia, Mr Johnson described the defence of Ukraine as the country’s “finest hour” – evoking the rhetoric of Britain’s Second World War prime minister Winston Churchill.
Mr Johnson announced a new aid package worth £300 million ($375m) that will go towards night vision equipment, artillery detection radar and drones to supply troops.
Speaking by video link to assembled MPs and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mr Johnson said western powers had not reacted strongly enough to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and “collectively failed to impose the sanctions that we should have put on [Russian President] Vladimir Putin”.
But he issued a rallying cry, saying that “Ukraine will win, Ukraine will be free”, despite its army being outnumbered by Russian forces, in what he called a struggle of “right versus wrong … good versus evil”.
Mr Zelenskyy, who has described Britain as one of Ukraine’s closest allies in the conflict that began on February 24, said that the countries were now “brothers and sisters”.
While Mr Zelenskyy has conducted a virtual tour of European and other parliaments to demand more weapons and support, Mr Johnson’s address is the first time a western leader has reciprocated.
It comes almost 10 weeks into a conflict that western officials have described as going badly for Russia and which is now concentrated in the eastern Donbas region – after Moscow scaled back its attacks on and around the capital, Kyiv.
Peace talks have stalled since evidence emerged of civilians being massacred near Kyiv, but Ukraine had previously signalled it could agree to a form of neutrality in which powers such as Britain and Germany promise to guarantee its security.
Mr Johnson hinted at possible postwar security arrangements for the country by saying that Britain would “carry on supplying Ukraine … until we have achieved our long-term goal, which must be to so fortify Ukraine that no one will ever dare to attack you again”.
Britain’s immediate contributions will include 13 armoured vehicles to rescue people and take officials to civilian command posts. This is in addition to anti-tank weapons, air defence systems, armoured vehicles and defensive equipment, such as helmets and body armour, that the UK has donated.
Mr Johnson said Mr Putin had led himself into disaster by silencing critics and Ukraine’s resistance had “exploded the myth” of Russian military strength.
“The so-called irresistible force of Putin’s war machine has broken on the immovable object of Ukrainian patriotism and love of country,” Mr Johnson said. “This is Ukraine’s finest hour, that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come.
“Your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.”
Mr Johnson, who visited Kyiv on April 9, said no foreign leader could speak lightly about making concessions to appease the Kremlin after witnessing what had happened to Ukrainians.
“This is about the right of Ukrainians to protect themselves against Putin’s violent and murderous aggression,” Mr Johnson said.
“It is about Ukrainian democracy against Putin’s tyranny. It is about freedom versus oppression. It is about right versus wrong. It is about good versus evil. And that is why Ukraine must win.”
Britain has moved its embassy back to Kyiv after relocating to the western city of Lviv when the invasion began.