Ukraine will beat Russia, get ‘free’ from occupation, UK prime minister says

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – Ukraine will beat Russia and get free from the Russian occupation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the Ukrainian lawmakers on Tuesday.

Johnson said in his address to the Ukrainian parliament, as the first leader to do so, that the fight with Russia is a fight of “good versus evil.”

“It is a big honor for me to address you at this crucial moment in history and I salute the courage with which you are meeting, the way you have continued to meet, in spite of a barbaric onslaught on your freedoms,” Johnson said.

“Day after day missiles and bombs continue to rain on the innocent people of Ukraine. In the south and the east of your wonderful country, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin continues with his grotesque and illegal campaign to take and hold Ukrainian soil,” he added.

Russian soldiers no longer “have the excuse of not knowing what they are doing,” he said. “They are committing war crimes, and their atrocities emerge wherever they are forced to retreat – as we’ve seen at Bucha, at Irpin, at Hostomel, and many other places.”

Johnson continued: “I have one message for you today: Ukraine will win; Ukraine will be free.”

The British premier told the Ukrainian lawmakers that they have “exploded the myth of Putin’s invincibility and you have written one of the most glorious chapters in military history and in the life of your country.”

He said “the so-called irresistible force of Putin’s war machine has broken on the immoveable object of Ukrainian patriotism and love of country.”

Describing the situation as “Ukraine’s finest hour,” Johnson said: “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 the West was “too slow to grasp what was really happening” in 2014 when Russia took Crimea, adding that “we cannot make the same mistake again.”

Johnson also announced a further £300 million ($375.5 million) worth of aid to Ukraine in his pre-recorded speech.

“I can announce today from the UK government a new package of support totaling £300 million, including radars to pinpoint the artillery bombarding your cities, heavy lift drones to supply your forces, and thousands of night vision devices,” he said.

“We will carry on supplying Ukraine, alongside your other friends, with weapons, funding and humanitarian aid, until we have achieved our long-term goal, which must be so to fortify Ukraine that no one will ever dare to attack you again.”

The new package will include a counter-battery radar system, heavy-lift drones, GPS jamming equipment, and thousands of night vision devices.

Johnson concluded his speech as he repeated his belief that Ukraine will win.

“When we look at the heroism of the Ukrainian people and the bravery of your leader Volodomyr Zelenskyy – we know that Ukraine will win,” he said.

“And we in the UK will do everything we can to restore a free, sovereign and independent Ukraine.”