- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson compared dealing with Putin to negotiations with a crocodile.
- Ukraine and Russia are unlikely to reach peace through negotiations as Putin has “lack of good faith,” he said.
- Johnson said Zelenskyy also had a “rather maximalist position” on the war in Donbass.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was unlikely Ukraine and Russia could reach peace through negotiations, likening talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to dealing with a “crocodile”.
“I really don’t understand how Ukrainians can just sit down and come to some kind of shelter. How can you negotiate with a crocodile when it has your leg in its jaws?” Johnson said on a flight to India on Wednesday, The Guardian reported.
“I think it is very difficult to imagine how Ukrainians can deal with Putin now, given his apparent lack of good faith and his apparent strategy of trying to engulf and conquer as much of Ukraine as possible , and then maybe conduct some kind of negotiation from a position of strength or even launch another attack on Kyiv,” the prime minister said.
Johnson said Britain and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must continue their strategy of supplying arms to Ukraine as a result, according to The Guardian.
He also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken a “rather maximalist position” on the war in Donbass, with ambitions to expel all Russian troops in Donetsk and Luhansk, Reuters reported. The “liberation” of Donbass has long been one of Moscow’s war aims.
“But in Crimea, they’re not that maximalist,” he said, referring to Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.
Johnson added that Putin, on the other hand, has shown a clear desire to seize more land in Ukraine and could make another push towards Kyiv, which Russian forces have failed to do after weeks of attacks on the capital, according to Reuters.
Peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have stalled since diplomats from both sides met on March 29, in large part because Ukraine says it uncovered evidence of mass killings in the Kiev suburb of Bucha after Russian forces withdrew.
Johnson is traveling to India to contact Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discuss the possibility of India throwing its support behind Ukraine – an unlikely scenario given India’s existing ties with Russia, he said, according to Reuters.
“I have already spoken to Narendra Modi about Ukraine. And indeed the Indians condemned what happened in Bucha,” he said. “But Britain in particular needs to recognize that India has a historic relationship with Russia. I think we need to be aware of that and just point out where I’m afraid Putin is badly failing Russia.”