The fact that Volodymyr Zelenskyj paid a visit to London on Wednesday before the EU summit had both a past and a future component. The Ukrainian president’s second trip abroad since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression rewards his country’s closest, certainly most vocal, ally in Western Europe, and is also seen as a personal tribute to ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. At the same time, he is encouraging the British, under their new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to hold on to the aid for the invaded country – something the conservative assured his visitor without any ifs or buts.
As a first reaction, the Foreign Office published a new list of sanctions against Russian companies and individuals with close ties to the Putin regime in the morning. The military training that thousands of Ukrainians have now undergone on the island is likely to be at least as important for Zelenskyy.
The President of Ukraine was greeted with warm applause both by the waiting passers-by in front of Downing Street and by the Prime Minister’s staff in his official residence. After the work meeting, the speech in the British Parliament and the audience with King Charles, Selenskyj and Sunak wanted to travel together to the western English county of Dorset, where infantrymen learn modern Western-style warfare.
Daily phone calls at the beginning of the war
In the last few days, London had also promised Ukraine to train pilots. After the announced delivery of heavy tanks, Kyiv is hoping for Western fighter jets next, in order to be able to challenge Russian air supremacy over the war zone in southern and eastern Ukraine.
From the outset, aid for Ukraine was almost uncontroversial in politics and society on the island. It was led by Boris Johnson. As early as January last year, when many other Europeans were still dreaming of diplomatic solutions, the then Prime Minister warned of a “painful and bloody invasion” of the country by its much larger neighbor.
What remains unforgotten in Kyiv and London is that the kingdom was already sending defensive weapons to the east when other allies were still considering the delivery of helmets – the two cargo planes from England had to avoid German airspace at the time for diplomatic reasons.
In the run-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Prime Minister, then reeling from the numerous Downing Street lockdown parties, underscored Britain’s “steadfast support” by supplying armor-piercing weapons that helped collapse the Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital. At the time, Ukrainian propaganda published small films in which their soldiers fired British weapons at Russian tanks while shouting “God save the Queen”.
Especially at the beginning of the war, Johnson also backed the president with almost daily phone calls in which he affirmed the solidarity and admiration of the British for Ukraine’s struggle for survival. Johnson was also the first Western leader to make the trip to Kyiv in April. Since then, the 58-year-old has been there again and again, most recently in January, and has always been enthusiastically received by the population.
On Wednesday Zelenskyy emphasized his “very good relations with Rishi”, which the prime minister beamed at. In December, a BBC report caused a stir in London: former investment banker Sunak had allegedly asked the Ministry of Defense for a “stocktaking” of the war situation, which was interpreted as preparing for reduced military aid. This assessment was strongly denied from Downing Street.
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Source: Tagesspiegel
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