Friday, 29 Mar 2024

A wink and a walk: Boris Johnson’s warm welcome on secret Kyiv visit

A wink and a walk: Boris Johnson’s warm welcome on secret Kyiv visit


A wink and a walk: Boris Johnson’s warm welcome on secret Kyiv visit

Boris Johnson embarked on his trip to Kyiv in utmost secrecy. He arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday without the world's media realising he was there until footage of him strolling the streets with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy emerged.

Only after he had returned to the UK did a Downing Street spokesperson confirm he had flown to Poland and then travelled by train via Ukrainian railways.

Johnson had been reported to be "desperate" to visit Kyiv for weeks, and he made it just a day after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, and the same morning as the Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer.

It is understood the trip to Ukraine was supposed to be kept secret until the prime minister returned to the UK, but it was announced by the Ukrainian embassy in London in mid-afternoon on Saturday in a tweet saying "Surprise" and accompanied by a winking emoji.

Once in Kyiv on Saturday, his walk around the capital took him to Independence Square and past a monument to the "Heavenly Hundred" heroes who died in pro-EU protests in 2014.

Johnson also had a meeting with Zelenskiy, sitting alone across a large desk, where he pledged armoured vehicles and anti-ship missile systems.

Appearing alongside Zelenskiy in a recorded broadcast clip, Johnson said the west would continue to "ratchet up" sanctions on Moscow as he praised the courage of the Ukrainian resistance.

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