Boris Johnson has conceded that the west “collectively failed” in its response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea eight years ago and pledged to supply Ukraine with more “weapons, funding and humanitarian aid”.
The UK prime minister in a virtual address to the Ukrainian parliament condemned President Vladimir Putin’s “grotesque and illegal campaign” in Ukraine, adding that the UK would hold the Russian leader to account for war crimes.
The conflict in Ukraine had “no moral ambiguities” or “grey areas”, Johnson added.
“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,” he told parliamentarians in the Verkhovna Rada. Western leaders should not repeat the mistakes of 2014, when President Putin invaded Crimea, the prime minister added.
“The truth is that we were too slow to grasp what was really happening and we collectively failed to impose the sanctions then that we should have put on Vladimir Putin,” he said.
Johnson praised the bravery of Ukrainians, saying they fought “with the energy and courage of lions”.
“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,” he said. “I believe that Ukraine will win.”
Johnson unveiled a £300mn military package of support, with weapons to Ukraine including Brimstone anti-ship missiles and Stormer anti-aircraft systems. Melinda Simmons, UK ambassador to Ukraine, would return to Kyiv to reopen the UK’s embassy, he added.
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