West will exert ‘unrelenting’ strain to make sure Vladimir Putin’s aggression fails, says Boris Johnson

The west is able to preserve “unrelenting” diplomatic and financial strain over the long run to make sure the failure of Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions, even when the Russian president succeeds in his speedy aim of overrunning Kyiv and seizing components of Ukraine, Boris Johnson has vowed.

In a few of his gloomiest feedback because the begin of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of its neighbour on Thursday, the prime minister stated Putin appeared intent on unleashing indiscriminate firepower in opposition to Kyiv as he did on Grozny, which was razed to the bottom within the 2000 Chechen warfare.

The world was confronted by a battle between “good and evil” in Ukraine, and Russians concerned in atrocities must be conscious they may face prosecution within the worldwide courts for warfare crimes, he stated.

However Mr Johnson insisted {that a} profitable Russian seizure of a part of the nation would end result solely in a “extended disaster”, with guerrilla warfare from Ukrainian resistance backed by crippling financial sanctions from the worldwide neighborhood.

Talking throughout a one-day go to to frontline Nato states Poland and Estonia, the prime minister warned Putin that any try to carry Ukraine over the long run will probably be “militarily exhausting and economically ruinous” for Russia.

And he urged the Russian president: “There is just one manner out of this morass and that’s to cease the tanks, to show again the tanks on their option to Kyiv, flip them spherical and take the trail of peace.”

With a 40km-long convoy of armoured Russian automobiles approaching the Ukrainian capital, Mr Johnson’s feedback indicated that he expects Putin to answer the frustration of his hopes for swift victory by stepping up the dimensions of violence inflicted by his troops.

Putin has been compelled right into a “cul-de-sac” by the unexpectedly tenacious resistance supplied by Ukraine’s military and folks, stated Mr Johnson.

And he has already demonstrated his readiness to resort to atrocity with a rocket assault on residential areas and on Freedom Sq. within the coronary heart of the nation’s second metropolis Kharkiv.

“If you happen to’re sitting the place he’s, his solely intuition goes to be to double down and to attempt to ‘Grozny-fy’ Kyiv and to scale back it to [rubble] ,” Mr Johnson instructed ITV Information.

“I feel that that may be an unalterable ethical humanitarian disaster and I hope he doesn’t do this. I hope he has the knowledge to see that there should be a greater manner ahead.”

In a speech in Warsaw following talks with Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki, Mr Johnson warned that Putin’s “imperial ambitions” don’t cease on the Ukrainian border.

“Putin’s purpose is to overthrow the post-Chilly Conflict order and destroy the imaginative and prescient of a Europe entire and free,” he stated.

If the Russian president succeeds in taking Ukraine, “the end result can be a world the place aggression has triumphed, the place would possibly is correct and excessive violence pays off and no nation can be secure”.

He made clear that this meant the west and its worldwide allies being ready for a protracted battle to make sure the last word failure of Putin’s aggression.

“If the worst occurs, and president [Volodymyr] Zelensky’s authorities is now not in a position to operate in Kyiv, we should put together to help them no matter occurs within the weeks forward,” stated the prime minister.

He acknowledged that this may impose prices on the British individuals and their allies by way of rising vitality costs and that in the long run Europe should wean itself off Russian oil and fuel.

However he stated: “If we’re to have any likelihood of ending this nightmare, then Putin should perceive that his savagery will probably be met with unrelenting financial strain and that the west will probably be united in supporting Ukraine and that we’re prepared for a chronic disaster.

“I’ve little question that if the west can preserve the extraordinary unity we’ve proven to date, if we are able to press forward with the technique we’ve set out – of worldwide financial, humanitarian, and diplomatic help to Ukraine, together with defensive weapons – then Putin’s enterprise will finally fail.”

At a press confernce following talks with Nato secretary common Jens Stoltenberg at a UK army base in Estonia, Mr Johnson was confronted by a Ukrainian anti-corruption campaigner who known as on him to adjust to president Zelensky’s request for a no-fly zone.

Daria Kaleniuk instructed him: “Ukrainian girls and Ukrainian youngsters are in deep concern due to bombs and missiles that are going from the sky. Ukrainian persons are desperately asking for the rights to guard our sky, we’re asking for a no-fly zone.

“What’s the choice for the no-fly zone?

“Nato is just not prepared to defend as a result of Nato is afraid of World Conflict Three nevertheless it’s already began and it’s Ukrainian youngsters who’re there taking the hit.”

However Mr Johnson responded: “Sadly the implication of that’s the UK can be engaged in capturing down Russian planes, it might be engaged in direct fight with Russia.

“That’s not one thing that we are able to do or that we’ve envisaged. The implications of that may be actually very, very troublesome to manage.”