The Churchill of Kyiv?
Ukraine loses ‘true friend’ with Johnson
07/08/2022, 4:00 p.m
Johnson’s resignation caused some satisfaction. Not so in Ukraine. Her Johnson was an important supporter. He often telephoned President Zelenskyj and worked through his shopping list. The Ukrainians thank the “Borys Johnsoniuk”.
Ninety minutes after stepping down as British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He assured Zelenskyy that his people enjoyed Britain’s full support in the fight against Russia. “You are a hero, Volodymyr,” he said, according to an employee who overheard the conversation. “Everyone loves you in this country.”
The episode is symptomatic of Johnson’s development since Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine. Since then, British support has been very clear, officials in Britain and the United States say. The kingdom advanced to become one of the most important arms suppliers. In a statement by his ministry, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described Johnson as a “true friend of Ukraine”.
This raises the question of whether Ukraine can count on such support for the next prime minister. Johnson told Zelenskyy he still had “a couple of weeks” to maintain support, the adviser said. However, the British leadership is in a transition phase.
Up until this last phone call, Johnson had spoken to Zelenskyy 21 times since the beginning of the war – on average every six days. Their conversations often began with Zelenskyy reading out some sort of “shopping list” of arms, said three British officials familiar with the matter. After that, Johnson saw what he could do.
London supplied numerous arms
For example, the British government made an agreement with Norway that Britain would supply multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine in return for receiving similar, older equipment from Norway for modernization – a kind of reverse “ring swap” model with Eastern European countries on the German model. In May, Ukrainian Defense Minister Olexii Reznikov also thanked the UK for helping to deliver Danish anti-ship missiles. Britain sent military attachés to a dozen countries to look for arms for Ukraine.
In all, Britain has pledged £2.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine, the second highest amount after the United States. The official total includes arms purchases but not the logistical support that Britain has offered in parallel, the UK Ministry of Defense says. “Britain has emerged as a leader among allies and partners in providing assistance to Ukraine,” said US Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Anton Semelroth.
But with Britain’s economic crisis and rising cost of living, it could be difficult to persuade the public to keep supporting Ukraine in a war that could last for years, said James Rogers, co-founder of London-based foreign policy think tank Geostrategy.
Street in Odessa named after Johnson
Johnson liked to portray himself as the modern-day Winston Churchill, and in a speech to Ukraine’s parliament in May said fighting Russia would be Ukraine’s “finest hour” – citing Churchill’s statement when Britain was conquered by Nazis in World War II. Germany threatened to be invaded and defeated. It was striking that Johnson always traveled to Kyiv or announced new arms deliveries when he was under particular domestic political pressure.
In any case, the move has increased his and Britain’s popularity abroad. A poll of Western countries in June voted Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the best. Incidentally, in Ukraine, a cafe in Kyiv sells an apple dessert called Borys Johnsoniuk, a Ukrainian version of the prime minister’s name. A street was named after him in the southern port city of Odessa. And a museum in central Kyiv has portraits of Johnson showing him as a warrior wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag.