British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a surprise trip to Kiev as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine.
There he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj for a one-on-one meeting in which he promised the Ukrainians, among other things, the delivery of armored vehicles.
“We are increasing our military and economic support and assembling a global alliance to end this tragedy,” Johnson said. Britain and other countries would provide Ukraine with the necessary equipment to ensure that it was never attacked again. Earlier in the day, Zelenskyi received Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
«The world has found new heroes»
Alongside Zelenskyy, Johnson praised the courage with which the Ukrainians resisted the Russian attack. “In recent weeks, the world has found new heroes, and those heroes are the people of Ukraine.” Russia misjudged that Kiev would fall in a few hours. “How wrong they were,” Johnson said. The Ukrainians showed “the courage of a lion” and let Zelenskyy roar that lion. However, much remains to be done to ensure that Ukraine wins the war. According to the prime minister, Putin must fail in his “absolutely unforgivable and unnecessary war”.
Zelenskyy called Britain a “leader in defense support of Ukraine”. His country’s Defense Ministry tweeted that Johnson was the first G7 leader to visit Ukraine since the start of the war.
Armored vehicles and missiles
During a visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, Johnson announced that he would send more weapons worth £100 million (equivalent to around €120 million) to Ukraine. These included Starstreak surface-to-air missiles. Now Johnson has also promised 120 armored vehicles and anti-ship missile systems. It must be ensured that “Ukraine survives and prospers as a free and sovereign nation,” he said.
Ukraine was attacked by neighboring Russia more than six weeks ago. Kiev is supported by the West with arms deliveries. Anti-tank weapons mainly come from Great Britain. However, the Ukrainian leadership is interested in heavy engineering and, above all, anti-aircraft systems.
Chancellor Nehammer also announces support
Austria wants to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia with rescue engines and firefighters. Chancellor Nehammer announced this on Saturday after talks with Selenskyj in Kiev. Nehammer stressed that the war unleashed by Russia was completely unacceptable to Austria. “We are militarily neutral, but not when it comes to naming crimes and when it comes to going where injustice is really happening.” Austria is not a member of NATO.
Nehammer had already demanded upon arrival that the war crimes that became known after Russia’s attack on Ukraine had to be fully investigated by independent and international experts. “It’s a wonderful sign that the leaders of European countries are starting to come here and not just support us with words,” Zelenskyy said. In addition, Austria will reopen its embassy in Kiev.
So far, Austria has supplied 10,000 helmets and 9,000 protective vests for civilian use. At the same time, like Germany, it is one of the EU countries that is currently refusing to stop Russian gas deliveries. Austria gets 80% of its gas from Russia. After some hesitation, Vienna recently expelled four Russian diplomats from the country.
Since the beginning of the war, almost 4.5 million of the estimated 44 million Ukrainians have left their homeland. About 51,000 refugees have been registered in Austria so far, most of them women with children.