“Every time we have to make a decision in favor of sending a new type of weapon to Ukraine, we start by saying: ‘No.
“We’re talking about a possible ‘escalation’, ‘provocation’… We shouldn’t be doing this anymore,” Boris Johnson said in response to a question from media correspondent Russian Service on whether the Kingdom United would be the first in sending combat aircraft to Ukraine, just as it was the first in the decision to equip Kiev with modern Western tanks (Challenger 2).
“Experience should finally teach us something,” continues Boris Johnson. So: if we still have to make a positive decision, let’s do it now. Let’s stop procrastinating and stop this war as soon as possible, because it is a requirement of humanity.”
Britain during the years of Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly acted as a leader in aid to Ukraine. Boris Johnson was the first leader of a NATO member country to travel to Kiev and meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on April 9, 2022, just a month and a half after the start of the Russian invasion. Britain was the first to supply Ukraine with Brimston anti-ship missiles, which, together with the American Harpoon and the Ukrainian Neptune, ultimately helped eliminate the threat of a Russian landing on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and repel the Russian Black Sea Fleet. . Finally, Britain (already after Johnson’s resignation) was the first to decide to supply tanks to Ukraine.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington on February 1 and challenging skeptics that it would be difficult for Ukraine’s military to quickly adopt NATO weapons, Boris Johnson gave an example from history of Britain’s fight against similar fascist aggression: “Some of you may not know that I have been fortunate enough to represent the constituency of Uxbridge and South Islip in West London. During World War II, the famous 303 squadron was deployed there, in which Polish pilots flew. In the air battle for Britain, every seventh fascist aircraft was shot down by this squadron. It didn’t take long for Polish pilots to learn how to fly a Curtiss Hawk, Hawker Hurricane or Supermarine Spitfire, and I don’t think it will take long for Ukrainians to figure out how to use an F-16 or a Eurofighter. Typhoon or whatever we can give them. I am proud of the efforts made by the UK, other European allies and the US to support Ukraine. But the real heroes are the Ukrainian people, the soldiers who fight like lions; families who have endured unprecedented suffering and cruelty since World War II.
Boris Johnson does not see spending by Western countries as charity: “By helping the Ukrainians win a decisive victory, we are in large part ensuring the security of the Euro-Atlantic region. If this is not fully done, if Putin comes to his senses and is able to present the matter as his “victory”, then he remains a threat to all regions along the perimeter of the former Soviet Union. In this case, the cost of protection will increase over decades and place a burden on our children. Let’s avoid this senseless spending and stop the war now. It is in the vital interests of the United States and the entire West to ensure Putin’s defeat in Ukraine; and don’t forget the signal that Putin’s success could send to China…
Returning to the subject of weapons, Boris Johnson concludes: “What is the point of having Challenger tanks patrolling the picturesque villages of Wiltshire today, which is a completely safe place? What is the point of deploying Abrams tanks or F-16 fighters in North Carolina, North Rhine-Westphalia or Alsace when the Ukrainians could use them right now where they are needed to ensure our collective security for decades to come? to come ?
The former British Prime Minister called the war in Ukraine “a key and defining moment of the first half of the 21st century”. “We must never forget that the origins of this military disaster lie in our own collective indecision,” Johnson said. “The failure in 2014 to do enough to punish Putin for his attempts to change borders by force” led to the fact that “the world now knows what Russian occupation means. We have seen the horrors his troops leave We understood what the police state he imposed on the Ukrainian people would look like – more despicable and more terrible than anything we saw in the former Eastern bloc – a state with a chauvinistic ideology , that Ukraine would not be a sovereign country with its own language and culture and should be part of the Russian Empire.”
Returning to the subject of decisive action by the West, Johnson points out: “Each time we have been asked to increase our support, we have been faced with the same counter-argument: we risk escalating the conflict, to provoke someone… Putin is not crazy and he is not. sick: he has just committed a historic crime, ”says Boris Johnson. “But he miscalculated and is now struggling to cope with the situation he has put his country in.”
Johnson is convinced that Putin will not use nuclear weapons “because it will instantly extinguish the last glimmer of Chinese support, he will lose his last supporters everywhere from India to Africa to Latin America. He will scare his own people. Who wants to live in fear of the consequences?
That’s why Boris Johnson is sure: “You can’t get sucked into Putin’s personal psychodrama: we’re not here to worry about the rest of his career or what’s going on over there in the Kremlin. . We need to stop focusing on his personality and focus entirely on Ukraine, because Ukrainians are fighting for all of us right now, for everyone in this room, for our values. Ukrainians have reminded us that the values of freedom and democracy are worth defending. So there is no conceivable reason for the delay [в поставке вооружений]. Let’s give Ukraine the tools to win now,” urges Boris Johnson.
“When Ukraine wins, it will be a huge positive factor: we will eliminate the threat of further Russian aggression in Georgia, in Moldova, in the Baltic countries, in all of Eastern Europe. By removing this threat, we remove the risk of further global economic shocks, such as gas and food price spikes, that have affected people around the world. Ukraine is today a country where it is worth investing colossal sums, summarizes the former British Prime Minister. “When it wins, a new clarity and stability will prevail in Europe’s security architecture, we will end the fatal ambiguity that ultimately led Putin to his disastrous mistake.”
