Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has publicly demanded that Ukraine be admitted into NATO and be handed more guns from the West to fight Russia.
Ukraine should be handed more tanks, artillery and other western munitions to help them win their war against Russia, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has declared, while also pushing for Western powers to see the embattled ex-Soviet state admitted into NATO.
Johnson has been a hardline supporter of Ukraine since tensions between the European nation and Russia went hot early last year, frequently using the conflict as a propaganda point during the latter of his then-failing premiership.
Since being turfed from office by his own party, Johnson has continued to militantly support Ukraine, and is now calling for western nations to “double and treble” their support for the country.
“They can, and will, drive Putin out of the whole of Ukraine,” the former Tory party leader wrote in an opinion piece for the Daily Mail. “This is now a war of independence, and history teaches us that wars of independence only end one way. The question is when.”
Johnson emphasised that the West should be sending a significant number of tanks and long-range artillery to the Zelensky administration, arguing that the vehicles currently have little use where they are in Europe and America.
“Where does the Western world need to station those tanks at the moment?” he asked. “Guarding North Rhine-Westphalia? Protecting Tennessee? Prowling the villages of Wiltshire? The same point can be made about every item of conventional weaponry that could help Ukraine bring this agony to an end.”
Johnson also pushed for the country to be admitted into NATO, saying that Vladimir Putin’s Russia “has eloquently destroyed any case against” allowing the country to join the American-led alliance, before dismissing any claims that Putin could resort to nuclear retaliation should the West press ahead with such an endeavour.
“Will he escalate with a battlefield nuclear weapon? Really? I don’t believe it for a second,” he claimed, saying that Putin “won’t do it” as any nuclear strike would jeopardise Russia’s place amongst its allies in the East and the developing world.
Boris Johnson ‘Worth More Than a Squadron of Tanks’, Says Ukraine Defence Ministry https://t.co/mH4qgrGj4k
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) January 23, 2023
However, while Johnson seems willing to risk the possibility of nuclear armageddon for the sake of further backing Ukraine, others in Britain seem far less keen on such a plan.
For instance, in response to the opinion piece, arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage took to social media to question Johnson’s logic, calling the former Prime Minister’s call to arms “total madness”.
Boris Johnson is calling for Ukraine to join NATO this morning. So, he wants us to be at war with Russia.
This is total madness and has little support.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) January 24, 2023
“Boris Johnson is calling for Ukraine to join NATO this morning,” he wrote on Twitter. “So, he wants us to be at war with Russia.”
Johnson’s insistence that nuclear weapons are also off the table is ultimately questionable also, with Putin having emphasised that Russia has “nowhere further to retreat to” on the issue of Ukraine well before the current resumption of hostilities between the two nations.
Such concerns do not seem like they will dissuade the former prime minister, however, with Johnson having insisted that it is “absolutely vital” for the UK and her allies to continue supporting Ukraine, even at great financial and political cost.
Overall, the British government sent over £2.3 ($2.5) billion worth of military aid to Ukraine last year, with Westminster promising to either match or exceed this amount in 2023.
"Boris Johnson needs to be reminded that Northern Ireland is his job, Ukraine isn't", commented @bowgroup chairman Benjamin Harris-Quinney https://t.co/h58sniOGNK
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 6, 2022
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