“It is time for the Europeans – with Britain in the lead – to get serious, listen to what Trump is saying, and step up our military support for Ukraine,” says Boris Johnson.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for Europe to ‘step up’ and heed President Donald Trump’s call for a stronger, united defence of Ukraine, warning that half-measures and dithering will only embolden Vladimir Putin.
Speaking in the wake of a decisive intervention at NATO, Boris stated: “The United States under Donald Trump is committed to a sovereign Ukraine. That is what Pete Hegseth has explicitly confirmed at NATO in the last few days.”
In his trademark forthright style, Boris dismissed any notion that Russia has a veto over Ukraine’s future, saying: “A sovereign country cannot be constrained in choosing which organisations it wishes to join. Ukraine is entirely sensible in wanting to join NATO. That process is a matter for Ukraine and NATO. It is absolutely nothing to do with Putin or Russia.”
Boris delivered a scathing assessment of those advocating for compromise with the Kremlin: “Attempts to negotiate on this point with Vladimir Putin are completely wrong in principle. They are also doomed. Putin’s demands will prove impossible to satisfy.”
The former Prime Minister’s comments follow his trenchant column in the Daily Mail, where he ridiculed the ‘panicked handwringing’ on display at the Munich Security Conference:
“Zut alors! Gott im Himmel! To listen to the wailing here at the Munich Security Conference you would think that Donald Trump has pulled out of NATO and cravenly capitulated to the Kremlin. It’s a betrayal! It’s appeasement! It’s Munich all over again, says everyone at Munich, as if each individually struck by his or her own brilliance in spotting this eerie echo of the disasters of the 1930s.”
However, Mr. Johnson argues that the West’s perception of Trump’s approach is distorted by liberal hysteria:
“Strip away the usual anti-Trump hullabaloo of the liberal media and you can see that the basic facts are unchanged. Those facts favour the West – and they favour Ukraine.”
Boris praised Trump’s policy as a continuation of his previous administration’s robust support for Kyiv:
“Trump is absolutely right to want to make peace. He is right to talk to Putin and Zelensky, as he said he would – and no, I see no sign whatever that he will betray the Ukrainians. I know that he does not want to betray them.”
Boris also acknowledged that Trump’s approach signals a necessary shift in burden-sharing within the Western alliance:
“There is only one way to make the Ukrainians strong and that is for their friends and supporters to pay, and to pay more. Trump’s message is very simple. It is that we Europeans can no longer sit around like sulky kids, waiting for the grown-ups in Washington to devise, and pay for, a plan for Ukraine.”
Highlighting Europe’s past failures, Johnson reminded readers of the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest, where it was not the Americans but the Europeans who blocked Ukraine’s path to NATO membership:
“Who said no? It was the Germans and the French, mainly because Europeans were already mainlining Russian gas. They were nervous of upsetting Putin.”
Boris also called for action on seizing Russian assets to fund Ukrainian defence:
“We haven’t produced a plan – mainly because the Germans are blocking it – to seize Putin’s frozen assets. Why haven’t we taken this obvious step and seized the $300 billion, much of it in Belgium?”
Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK, hailed Boris Johnson’s intervention, tweeting: “Excellent on Ukraine by Johnson. It is Europe, not US, who let down Ukraine in 2008. So let’s step up now. Let’s use the $300bn frozen Russian assets in the West to pay for support and peace through strength. Europe must invest in defence, not whinge.”
Boris concluded his clarion call by urging Britain to seize the leadership mantle in Europe:
“Britain is a great power. We have more heavy lift military aircraft than almost the whole of the rest of Europe. We are and always have been the natural No.2 in NATO. We need to do the same again, now. It is time for Britain to come off the sidelines and give a lead.”
As tensions mount and the future of Ukraine hangs in the balance, Johnson’s rallying cry leaves Europe with a stark choice: lead, or be led. In his view, the stakes are nothing less than the future of freedom on the continent.
Read Boris Johnson’s full column in the Daily Mail here.
Main Image: For illustration purposes only. Image created on Grok.
