London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday became the first world leader to address the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, when he hailed the country’s finest hour in the conflict with Russia.
Setting out details of GBP 300 million in extra military support, Johnson invoked the spirit of Britain’s war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, in his address via video-link.
The additional military support will cover radars to pinpoint the artillery, heavy lift drones to carry crucial supplies to isolated forces and thousands of night vision devices as the UK leader pledged to continue to support Ukraine with weapons, funding and humanitarian aid .
“This is Ukraine’s finest hour, that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come,” said Johnson.
“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.
In the coming weeks, we in the UK will send you Brimstone anti-ship missiles and Stormer anti-aircraft systems. We are providing armoured vehicles to evacuate civilians from areas under attack and protect officials what Volodymyr mentioned to me in our most recent call while they maintain critical infrastructure, he added.
The address follows a similar virtual address by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Parliament in March, during which the Ukrainian leader had also invoked a Churchillian spirit. Johnson told parliamentarians that the UK Parliament met throughout World War II, just as Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has done through the conflict with Russia.
He concluded: It is about Ukrainian democracy against Putin’s tyranny. It is about freedom versus oppression. It is about right versus wrong. It is about good versus evil.
And that is why Ukraine must win; and when we look at the heroism of the Ukrainian people and the bravery of your leader Volodomyr Zelenskyy we know that Ukraine will win. And we in the UK will do everything we can to restore a free sovereign and independent Ukraine.
Downing Street said the UK would send 13 specialised Toyota Land Cruisers to protect civilians officials at command posts and help security authorities rebuild railways in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces are now concentrated.
UK Foreign secretary Liz Truss said the steel-plated vehicles, which were requested by the Ukrainian government, would also help evacuate civilians fleeing Russian shelling on the frontline.
They will arrive there in the coming days, said Truss.
Meanwhile, official data claims a total of 86,000 UK visas have been issued to Ukrainians fleeing the war zone and around 27,000 refugees have arrived in the UK.
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