BORIS JOHNSON: If Ukraine falls, it will be a catastrophic turning point in history – and a total humiliation for the West… Why on earth are we waiting to give this heroic nation the weapons it needs?

But why this delay? What is wrong with us? If the war in Ukraine ends in disaster, it will be for one reason: the hesitant and hesitant drift of the West.

Every month we wait is a month in which more Ukrainian children are bombed and killed.

Every week that we fail to answer the obvious and give the Ukrainians the weapons they need is a week that Putin moves closer to his disgusting ambition: to torture a European country to death.

The pressure on Ukrainians increases every day, but the solution is within our reach.

We know what to do. We've done it before and we can easily do it again.

When Ronald Reagan won the Cold War with the unwavering support of Margaret Thatcher, he succeeded because of the urgency and determination with which he confronted the problem.

He could see, with complete moral clarity, that the United States was engaged in a titanic struggle: between freedom and tyranny.

So he found a solution made possible by the economic freedom in which he believed. After years of communist oppression in the Soviet Union, the United States had become so incomparably richer that it was capable of massively outspending Moscow.

He used the sheer weight of U.S. military spending to intimidate the Russians, force them to the negotiating table, and begin a process that led to the breakup of the Soviet empire.

For dozens of ignorant populations across Eastern Europe and around the former Soviet Union, it was the dawn of freedom.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was the happiest political moment of my life. For hundreds of millions of people, it meant the end of the police state and the midnight knock on the door. It was the end of the terror of the Securitate and the Stasi, of children paid to demean their parents and of people sent to prison by the thousands simply because they had the courage to oppose the communist regime.

It was a moment of total moral, economic and political triumph for Western ideas of freedom; and yet, all these achievements are now under threat. The world of 2024 is on a razor's edge, with a real risk that Western democracies are on the verge of being humiliated and autocracies around the world emboldened by our weariness, our pathetic refusal to do the right thing. necessary.

Think about what would have happened if, as many experts predicted, Putin had succeeded in his February 2022 blitzkrieg. Think about what would have happened if he had conquered all of Ukraine, including kyiv.

This would have meant the end of Ukrainian democracy and the creation of a vassal state; and in order to ensure the obedience of the newly subjugated population, Putin allegedly followed the hideous pattern he used in the regions of Ukraine he has already captured: forced Russification, the systematic murder of all those who resist and the kidnapping of Ukrainian children in Russia to be sent to Russia. brainwashing.

Note how Putin runs his own country by killing journalists, blatantly assassinating political opponents such as Alexei Navalny.

This was almost the fate of the whole of Ukraine and the only reason it didn't happen is that the Ukrainians refuted Putin's thesis and fought like lions for the country they love. The reason they succeeded so spectacularly was that they had already received crucial Western support, including anti-tank missiles from the United States and the United Kingdom. Look what the Ukrainians have achieved, against all odds, with the weaponry we have provided them so far.

They expelled Putin from more than 50 percent of the territory he occupied; they neutralized more than 40 percent of the Black Sea Fleet; they inflicted terrible losses on Putin's armed forces, more than 300,000 dead or injured.

And yet we must also recognize that the cost to Ukraine has also been severe, and that cost is now rising in completely unnecessary ways because we are failing to provide them with what they need.

The shortage of shells on the Ukrainian front line is now so severe that they sometimes have to wait under Russian bombardment, unable to fight back.

The lack of air defense is now so serious that Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, risks turning into another Mariupol. Ukrainian power plants are being pulverized. The Ukrainians were able to intercept 90% of incoming missiles.

Today we are depriving them, for reasons that I do not understand, of the protective shields they need. There are about 100 Patriot systems scattered across Europe, doing nothing. For what? If the constant Russian bombing and undersupply of the Ukrainians continues, there is a real risk that Putin will be able to mount some sort of escape this summer and send his armor, once again, to kyiv.

What does this mean, after all, we told the Ukrainians that we will support them for as long as it takes?

Let's be clear: if Ukraine falls, it will not only be a disaster for this innocent country.

It would be a total humiliation for the West for the first time in NATO's 75 years of existence that this hitherto successful alliance was completely routed and on European soil.

A defeat for Ukraine would usher in a new era of fear across the Euro-Atlantic region, as Putin continues his efforts to rebuild the Soviet empire: from the Baltics to Georgia to Russia. Moldova, Central Asia and the Arctic.

It will be a terrifying moment for the Taiwanese people and the clearest possible signal to China that the West has lost the will to protect democracy.

This will be a turning point in history, the moment when the West finally loses its post-war hegemony, the moment when borders will suddenly come into play everywhere and aggression will appear to pay off, and all because of the inability to defend Ukraine.

What's so maddening about this slowly unfolding catastrophe is that we can so easily avoid it. We have the power to give the Ukrainians what they need: not just the $60 billion aid package that I hope and believe the U.S. Congress will approve shortly.

The Germans could and should give the Taurus missiles, and we could all give and do so much more. We could easily give Ukraine the long-range artillery needed to cut off communications between Russia and Crimea and cause serious strategic problems for Putin.

Why don't we do it? This time, the West's advantage is even greater than it was during the Cold War. NATO economies are about 30 times the size of Russia.

If we take control now and start seriously manufacturing the munitions Ukrainians need, we can not only solve Ukraine's problem, but also boost jobs and growth in our own countries.

It is time for the West, including Britain, to wake up from our sleepwalking; rediscover the spirit of Reagan and Thatcher and invest in the defense of our freedoms.

The simplest and most cost-effective way to defend freedom is to invest in Ukraine's defense now.