Boris Johnson will address Ukraine’s Parliament on Tuesday, becoming the first world leader to do so since the outbreak of war in February.
In a recorded speech, the prime minister will praise Ukraine’s resistance to autocracy and announce a new £300 million military aid package to support the nation against Russia.
In a speech to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday, the prime minister is also expected to celebrate Ukraine’s “best hour” and emphasize that the UK is “proud to be one of its friends”.
His comments will be made available when the British embassy reopens in Kyiv in a show support for Ukraine.
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‘Epic chapter in the national story’
Mr Johnson is expected to say: “As my country faced the threat of invasion during World War II, our parliament – as well as his parliament – continued to meet throughout. the conflict, and the British people showed such solidarity and determination that we remember our time of greatest danger as our finest hour.”
He will add: “This is Ukraine’s greatest hour, an epic chapter in your nation’s story to be remembered and told for generations to come.
“Your descendants will say that the Ukrainians have taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor is worth nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.”
Boris Johnson went to Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy last month
Main developments:
• Germany “not against“ ban on Russian oil as EU considers move in latest sanctions
• Evacuation of civilians rescued from the besieged city of Mariupol has been postponed
• Ukraine claims that Russian forces are ‘moving the dead at night’ to disguise
• Israel denounced the Russian foreign minister after he declared Hitler “of Jewish blood”
• Russia is hosting the men’s Euro in 2028 throw out
The £300 million military aid package will include electronic warfare equipment, jet radar systems, GPS jammers and thousands of night vision devices.
The UK will also send more than a dozen new dedicated Toyota Landcruisers in the coming weeks to help protect civilian officials in eastern Ukraine and evacuate civilians from frontline areas.
This follows a request from the Ukrainian government.
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The search for the missing Ukrainian
‘We will fight for our land’
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, Addressing British MPs via video link in March on the 13th of the war.
He asked the UK to provide more weapons and repeatedly called for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
“We will not give up and we will not lose,” President Zelenskyy told MPs in a historic speech that echoed Winston Churchill’s famous wartime speech.
“We will fight to the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue to fight for our land, no matter the cost.
“We will fight in the woods, in the fields, on the seashore, in the streets.”
Mr Johnson’s address follows surprise visit to Kyiv to meet Mr Zelenskyy last month, when he praised his “resolute leadership and invincible heroism”.
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