BORIS JOHNSON: Putin’s defeat would be a wonderful moment – and believe me, it will happen. We just need courage to help Ukraine win faster

Glory to Ukraine! It was one of those moments where you punch the air before running around the room letting out little triumphant squeals of excitement.

This week, delegations of morons and sycophants from 130 countries violated all norms of decency and landed at St. Petersburg airport for a flagship conference on investment in Russia, with the climactic speech yesterday from Putin himself.

Luminaries include bizarre, permanently tanned movie star Steven Seagal and misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate, as well as a member of the United States Commission of Fine Arts (what the hell was he doing there, anyway?).

These useful idiots were checking into their hotels, investigating the minibar, testing box springs, etc., when the sirens went off. There was the sound of an explosion, then another.

They rushed outside to see a cloud of black, oily smoke rising above the city, clearly visible from the Hermitage. Yes, it turned out that the Ukrainians had sent their own secret delegation to the summit – in the form of a swarm of drones.

They had come a long way from their home country, more than 500 miles away. They had escaped Russian air defenses. They had entered the spirit of the occasion by creating entirely new and lucrative investment opportunities in Russia.

Thanks to these 60 Ukrainian drones, Steven Seagal can now bid for the contract to rebuild the St. Petersburg oil depots. Andrew Tate can go to the Kronstadt naval base, get out his apron, shovel and brush and volunteer to clean up the mess.

The Ukrainians managed to hit a corvette in dry dock and damage it so badly that it will not be able to sail for months or even years. In the history of Ukrainian spectacular events, this is the most spectacular attack ever.

I would have loved to see the look on Putin’s face when he heard the news of the Ukrainian drone attack, writes Boris Johnson

American actor Steven Seagal is attending the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg this week for a conference that ends with a speech by Putin himself

I would have loved to see the look on Putin’s face when he heard the news. This was supposed to be his Davos, a joyous conclave of klepto-capitalists from around the world. But no amount of free vodka will persuade people to invest in Russia if they think a Ukrainian drone is going to fly through the window.

The attack was so sensational and audacious that in recent days people began to ask: is it possible that Ukraine will win this war?

Is David about to throw that pebble right between the eyes of a stunned Goliath, only to have the giant fall backwards into the dust?

The Kronstadt naval base was the scene of one of the first communist uprisings in 1917. After this military humiliation, will the Russians finally turn against Tsar Putin? Well, it’s certainly possible – but only if the West begins to demonstrate the courage of the Ukrainians themselves.

Ukraine’s drone attacks on Putin’s oil infrastructure are astonishing and seemingly unstoppable, and they continue to significantly reduce Russian hydrocarbon exports.

But even more strategically significant are Ukrainian air attacks on the main artery between Russia and Crimea, along the so-called land bridge of the captured territory in the south of the country.

Ukrainian drones fly over these roads like bearded vultures* and, by eliminating transport trucks, they make it even more difficult for the Russians to supply the front.

This is starting to have an effect on the battle. The statistics vary depending on which authority you read, but there is no doubt that the Russian assault has begun to falter. Some calculations indicate that in recent months the Ukrainians have even regained some land – and yet the Russians continue to lose around 30,000 soldiers killed or wounded every month: a horrible butcher’s bill.

In total, the Russians have lost more than a million dead or wounded (compared to about 250,000 Ukrainians), and the territory they have conquered over the past year amounts to a small squat – about 0.6 percent of the Ukrainian landmass. Not surprisingly, we are beginning to hear the first murmurs of dissent within the Russian establishment and suggestions that it might be time to end the “special military operation.”

What was supposed to be a three-week blitzkrieg turned into an epic carnage that lasted longer than World War I and killed far more Russians than any conflict since World War II.

The closest comparison is to the disastrous ten-year incursion into Afghanistan. In the end, Russian public opinion hated this war. And yet they lost around 15,000 – an insignificant number compared to the bloodbath in Ukraine.

There is only one obstacle to peace, and that is the man who started the war. The problem is Putin.

The Russian president is terrified of ending the war because he fears what might happen next: the comparison with the Tsar is apt. Then there is another problem.

Thick smoke rises after Ukrainian drones strike oil depots in St. Petersburg

The West is simultaneously afraid of contributing to Putin’s defeat because we, too, have been perpetually nervous about what might happen next.

For four years, Western policymakers have had the cowardly, superstitious and unfounded belief that a total victory for Ukraine – and a defeat for Putin – would mean some kind of social and political collapse in Russia, and the risk of desperate reprisals.

Well, it’s nonsense, and it’s high time we understand it. There is one clear and unambiguous lesson from this war so far: we have systematically overestimated Putin and underestimated the Ukrainians.

We have continually reduced our support for the Ukrainians and have been too slow to provide them with the equipment they need. At every step, the argument is the same: if we do more to equip Ukraine, we run the risk of “escalation” by Putin.

The argument is absurd. What more can Putin do? He bombs civilians in their apartments, captures and castrates Ukrainian men, and takes Ukrainian children captive to unlearn their own language.

I recently went to the front line to meet Ukrainian soldiers who are fighting and dying, in miserable conditions, to hold it back. What are we waiting for?

There is no conceivable excuse for a delay. We could do much more to force Putin to end this situation – with a free and sovereign Ukraine. We could unfreeze the hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets (including around £15 billion in London) and give them to Ukraine; we could help with Tomahawks and other long-range missiles; we could cripple its ghost fleet of sanctions-busting tankers.

We have done none of this – because we are cautious – for fear of a real defeat for Vladimir Putin. We are wrong to be so worried. A Putin defeat would be a wonderful moment for a world hungry for good news; a defeat for the autocrats; a defeat for Iran, for China; and the end of an unnecessary and cruel conflict.

It really can happen – and the proof that it can happen lies in the events of the last four years. We were told they would close in a week. They are now bombing Putin’s hometown. They will win. We just need courage to help them win faster.