Johnson warns Putin that Ukraine invasion would be ‘painful, violent and bloody’
Boris Johnson has warned Vladimir Putin that if Russia invades Ukraine it will be “painful, violent and bloody”, with the Prime Minister adding that the situation is looking “gloomy”.
Johnson will hold a call at 8pm tonight with leaders of the US, France, Germany, Poland, the president of the EU Commission and the NATO secretary general to speak about the Ukrainian situation.
It comes as the UK today moved to withdraw half of its embassy staff from the country out of fears that the situation is becoming increasingly unstable.
The US has done similarly, while also advising all American nationals to leave the country.
“It’s prudent to make some changes now, the intelligence is very clear that there are 60 Russian battle groups on the borders of Ukraine. The plan for a lightning war that could take out Kiev is one everybody can see and we need to make it very clear to the Kremlin that would be a disastrous step,” Johnson told journalists today.
“We also need to get a message that invading Ukraine from a Russian perspective is going to be a painful, violent and bloody business. It’s very important people in Russia understand this could be a new Chechnya.
“I’ve been to Ukraine several times, I know the people of that country a bit. My judgement is that they will fight and that is not the way the world should be going.”
Russia has an estimated 127,000 troops stationed along the border with Ukraine, with fears growing that President Vladimir Putin will soon launch an invasion of the country.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace is set to soon meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in Moscow in a bid to cool tensions and move toward a negotiated settlement.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken yesterday said it is “certainly possible that the diplomacy the Russians are engaged in is simply going through the motions and it won’t affect their ultimate decision”, while refusing to rule out potential American military involvement.
The New York Times reports that Joe Biden is considering a plan to send up tp 50,000 US troops to eastern European countries in Nato – such as Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia – but does not want to send military personnel into Ukraine.
When asked if the UK would send troops to Ukraine if Russia invades, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab yesterday said: “It’s extremely unlikely we would do that, but what we can say is we’re already willing and engaging in training programmes to support Ukrainians defending themselves. That’s absolutely right.”