In an interview with Fox News, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the United States and the West to quickly supply Ukraine with the weapons that it needs to rebuff Russia.
“Whether it’s the tanks or the long artillery, give them what they need,” Johnson said, adding that Ukraine needs to “kick Putin out of the whole of the territory.”
Johnson believes that the failure of the West to punish Putin in 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea and invaded the Donbas, led to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He added that the faster the world returns to stability, “the more powerful message will be sent to people like China that the West will not tolerate aggressive attempts to change the borders by force.”
Johnson also dismissed the possibility of the war escalating into a nuclear conflict.
Earlier this week, Johnson said that days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin threatened him with a missile strike.
NATO countries have agreed to supply Western-made tanks to Ukraine but have so far refused to send long-range ATACMS misiles and F-16 fighter jets.
Critics argue that allies' reluctance to supply F-16s and ATACMS to Ukraine will prevent Kyiv from launching a major offensive and liberating Ukrainian territory. Ukraine's lack of advanced aircraft and missiles is also likely to prolong Russia's war of aggression and result in thousands of deaths.
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