Boris Johnson: a Putin victory would weaken America again

Western policy toward Ukraine is failing, and the United States and its allies must step up support to match their words, Johnson said.

After two and a half years of bloodshed, I fear that Western policy is not only beginning to look inadequate, but actually cruel, because we want the end but fail to provide the means, he said. declared. We constantly salute the heroism of Ukrainians, but we force them to fight with their hands tied behind their backs.

Western leaders repeatedly tell Ukrainians that they are engaged in a common struggle for the universal values ​​of freedom and democracy, but have provided insufficient aid to ensure they win that battle, Johnson said .

We should do what is necessary to help them win, not only to survive, but also to defeat Putin and preserve Ukraine as a free, independent and sovereign European country, he said. If, as is increasingly suggested, this war were to now be frozen with a divided Ukraine and Russia still capable of threatening, or even invading, what remains of that country, it would be a total disaster for us all. .

Without Putin's defeat, countries on the periphery of the former Soviet Union would feel permanently threatened and China would be emboldened to take Taiwan by force, Johnson warned.

The former prime minister, who was a leading figure in the global response to the full-scale invasion in February 2022 and has been a strong supporter of Ukraine since he was forced from office five months later presented a plan to help kyiv win. .

First, Ukrainians must be allowed to make full use of the weapons they have, he said, in response to limitations on the use of long-range munitions imposed by Washington and other Western capitals.

You try to explain to a mutilated Ukrainian soldier why Ukrainians can't use [Anglo-French] Storm Shadow missiles to attack Russian air bases from which they launch glide bombs that cause terrible damage to their positions, he said. Try to explain to them why they can't do what Putin is doing to their own country.

The argument that allowing the use of these weapons would lead to an escalation of the conflict was used to delay any increase in armaments for Ukraine throughout the conflict, he said, and the escalation would not continue. is not materialized.

Each time, the argument about the risk of escalation by Vladimir Putin has proven absolutely absurd, because the one who really fears an escalation is Putin himself, Johnson said. We must stop using the so-called threat of escalation as an excuse to hesitate.

Second, the West must provide massive financial support to Kyiv, he said. Johnson backed a proposal from former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a $500 billion Lend-Lease program for Ukraine, similar to that offered to the UK by the US during the Second War worldwide.

Third, Ukraine should be admitted to NATO now, rather than waiting until the end of the war. They chose the West, Johnson said, and should be fully accepted into the community of free and democratic nations.

The area of ​​Ukraine still controlled by kyiv could immediately benefit from a NATO Article 5 security guarantee without undermining kyiv's claims to its entire 1991 territory, Johnson said .

It is absolutely essential that we take this step and that we do it now, because without this security guarantee there can be no peace process, he said. There could be no armistice, no negotiation, no talks with Russia.

Such a move would provide clarity for all parties and reaffirm the location of the borders between Ukraine and Russia, Johnson said.

The Russians must get used to the idea that they no longer have a sphere of influence. They have no close strangers. There is no more Soviet empire, Johnson said. And there is only one country, in my opinion, that can achieve this, that can achieve this program, and that is of course the United States of America.

Edge of Europe is CEPA's online journal covering critical foreign policy topics in Europe and North America. All opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position or views of the institutions they represent or of the Center for European Policy Analysis.