Boris Johnson Rules Out Sending British Troops to Ukraine, Shuts Down ‘No-Fly Zone’ Pleas

TALLINN, ESTONIA - MARCH 01: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a joint pr
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

The United Kingdom will not send soldiers to wage war upon Vladimir Putin’s forces in Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday.

Appearing in Tapa, Estonia alongside NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and Estonian PM Kaja Kallas, Boris Johnson said that while the past week had brought with it “scenes we hoped we would never see again” in Europe, he would not send British forces into the fray in Ukraine.

“We will not fight Russian forces in Ukraine and our reinforcements, like these reinforcements here in Tapa, are firmly within the borders of NATO members and they are profoundly the right thing to do,” Johnson said per The Telegraph.

“It’s very, very important to understand that Nato is a defensive alliance. This is a time when miscalculation and misunderstanding is all too possible,” the PM warned.

Mr Johnson concluded by remarking that there was no time in recent memory when “the difference between right and wrong, between good and evil has been so obvious.”

Britain will not fight Russian forces in Ukraine, Boris Johnson has confirmed as he said such a step is “not on the agenda”.

The pronouncement came shortly after the British leader was confronted at a press conference in Poland earlier in the day by a reporter from Ukraine, who hectored the Prime Minister from the floor over Britain’s reluctance to directly fight Russia.

Daria Kaleniuk, who fled from Kyiv to Poland, accused the Prime Minister of being “afraid” to enforce the Budapest memorandum, which the UK and U.S. agreed to defend the country in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear weapons in 1994. She called on the UK to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which would mandate the Royal Air Force shoot down any Russian planes entering Ukrainian air space — a move that could, some have claimed, trigger World War III.

“You’re coming to Poland, you’re not coming to Kyiv,” she said, “because you are afraid, because Nato is not willing to defend, because Nato is afraid of World War III, but it has already started.”

“Without a no-fly-zone Ukrainian babies and Ukrainian hospitals will be hit by bombs,” she said tearfully.

Responding, Mr Johnson replied: “I’m acutely conscious that there is not enough that we can do, as the UK government, to help in the way that you want and I’ve got to be honest about that.

“When you talk about the no-fly zone, as I said to (Ukrainian President) Volodymyr Zelensky a couple of times, unfortunately, the implication of that is the UK would be engaged in shooting down Russian planes, it would be engaged in direct combat with Russia.

“That’s not something that we can do or that we’ve envisaged. The consequences of that would be truly very, very difficult to control.”

According to The Telegraph, the Ukrainian forces are currently using some 2,000 Anglo-Swedish Next-generation Light Anti-tank Weapons (NLAW) sent by the British government, with more weapons shipments in the pipeline.

The UK has also joined forces with the United States and European Union in imposing hefty sanctions of Putin’s regime, Russian oligarchs, and the country as a whole since the start of the invasion.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.