Kick out Putin, join NATO: Johnson tells how he sees Ukraine's victory

Johnson said this in Ukraine’s national telethon.

“There must be a military victory – strong, firm, convincing. We need to drive Putin out of all the territories, at least all the ones he seized a year ago. And in order to do that, as I understand it, the Ukrainian Armed Forces need help, they need long-range artillery, missiles, tanks on the ground, and they need airplanes to support counterattacks on Russian positions from the sky,” Johnson said.

The former UK Prime Minister emphasized that weapons should be provided to Ukraine as soon as possible.

“What happened last year was that we gave Javelin, Himars, Stinger later or earlier, and then more powerful weapons came in. We need it sooner, not later. Ukrainians will win, one way or another. The Ukrainians have shown that they will not give up their land, that they will take back the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, and even earlier they drove the Russians out of the Kyiv region. They just need equipment and weapons,” Johnson said.

The British politician also said that he sees no convincing arguments against Ukraine's accession to NATO.

“Military victory is the key to success. And then we can say that this is followed by an agreement on the future of Ukraine. I don't see any controversy, any arguments against Ukraine joining NATO. What were the arguments? They said that if Ukraine joined NATO, it would provoke Russia. Putin has already violated all this. He came to non-NATO Ukraine, he invaded it, and there was no immediate prospect of Ukraine joining NATO. This is all nonsense, absurd. I think that Ukraine's promising future should be linked to Western collective security. Ukraine wants to join the EU, we support it. If Ukraine wants to, it should do it. And I personally believe that Ukraine should also join NATO. This is my personal opinion. We have to help to ensure that there is clarity, visibility of this. And NATO provides this. Ukraine is part of the Western security alliance – not a threatening alliance, but a defensive alliance. And there was a certain misunderstanding, a lack of clarity that allowed Putin to do what he did,” Johnson said.

The politician also said that the international community needs to help Ukraine win by the end of the year.

“We need to make sure that 2023 becomes the year of Ukrainian victory – the sooner the better for the Ukrainian people. We need to help them win this fight. ... I tried to talk to veterans who defended Donbas in 2016, when I was in Ukraine as Foreign Minister. They were already determined and committed to their fight. I recall this memorial in Kyiv, where thousands of names of those who died for Ukraine are inscribed. I saw it and realized it: Putin is simply crazy if he thinks that this country will collapse under his push. Ukraine will win – it was clear then, and I repeat it now with even more confidence. Our country will do everything it can to ensure that victory,” Johnson emphasized.