Ukraine: Johnson tells Zelensky UK will do more to help

Boris Johnson has told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Britain will do more to help Ukraine in its war with Russia.

The prime minister said he spoke to the Ukrainian president on the phone on Friday morning.

He said he vowed to stand by Ukraine at a time when its people “face such horror with such courage.”

Mr Johnson said he told Mr Zelensky: “We know we need to do more to help. I promise you we will.”

And he said he told the president he knew Ukraine was fighting “not just for their lives and homes, but for the cause of democracy and freedom itself.”

Mr Johnson was speaking at the Scottish Conservatives conference in Aberdeen, where he told delegates that Britain had “lead the way” in supplying arms to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia.

But he added: “I think we all feel like we can and will do more globally.

“We will do more with defensive weapons to help our Ukrainian friends against this relentless bombing.

“We will do more to increase the vice around Putin’s economy – and with each passing day that the slaughter and inhumane behavior of Putin’s war machine continues, I think the world’s resolve to do more grows, and so do I.” I am more convinced than ever that Putin will fail”.

Mr Johnson said Russia had “fatally underestimated” both the Ukrainians’ determination to fight and the strength of Western unity.

But he said it was vitally important that the world now begins to shift away from dependence on Russian oil and gas, and called for national and international efforts to “double down” on wind, tidal, solar and nuclear power “.

He said it was “crazy” to talk about shutting down domestic oil and gas production in the UK when it meant buying oil and gas at a “heavy premium” from Russia.

However, he stressed that the UK remained committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Mr Johnson also said it was “incredible” that despite Mr Putin’s “saber rattling” the SNP still wanted to get rid of Britain’s nuclear weapons.

The Prime Minister’s speech came just two months after the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, publicly urged him to quit over partying at Downing Street during the lockdown, saying his position had become “unsustainable”.

Mr Ross withdrew his call for Mr Johnson to resign last week, saying the only focus at the moment should be on the war in Ukraine.

The two men shook hands on stage and the Prime Minister later paid tribute to Mr Ross’s achievement as party leader in his speech.