- In weekly talks with Zelensky, Johnson assembled a “shopping list” of weapons
- The UK assisted governments in need of political cover or logistical assistance
- As Ukraine’s supplies tighten, the political choice looms: doubling down or pushing for negotiations
- With the cost-of-living crisis at home, public support for guns may be fading
LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) – Ninety minutes after resigning as British prime minister on Thursday, Boris Johnson called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He told the Ukrainian leader that his people had the UK’s unwavering support in its fight against Russia and said Britain would continue to supply vital defense aid for as long as needed. “You’re a hero, Volodymyr,” he said, according to an aide listening in on the conversation. “In this country,
everybody loves you.”
In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine, Britain has become an important intermediary for Zelensky, officials in Britain and the United States told Reuters. Part broker, part delivery service, supporting Ukraine was an important part of Johnson’s premiership. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described him as a “true friend of Ukraine” in comments sent to Reuters by his ministry Read more.
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Whoever governs Britain in the coming months will face important decisions about how to pursue policy. Johnson told Zelensky he still had “a few weeks” to continue the support, according to the aide. But Britain’s leadership will be in a moment of transition as Russia steadily gains ground in what Moscow calls a “special operation”.
Until the last call, Johnson had spoken to Zelensky 21 times since the start of the war – an average of once every six days. Their conversations often began with Zelensky reading a “shopping list” of weapons, three British officials familiar with the matter told Reuters. Calls can “be very transactional” at first, one official said.
As an example of the deals that followed, London and Oslo agreed that Britain would send multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Ukraine and receive similar, older equipment from Norway in return, which it could upgrade, the Norwegian government confirmed. In May, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov thanked Britain for helping to supply Danish anti-ship missiles. Read more
Britain also recently made an inquiry for 27 Soviet-designed heavy machine guns from Bulgaria, according to a document from state arms company TEREM seen by Reuters. TEREM told Reuters that deal had not gone through.
Britain has pledged 2.3 billion pounds ($2.74 billion) in military support to Ukraine, the second-highest level of support after the United States. The official total includes the weapons purchases, but not the logistical support that Britain has offered along with them, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.
Britain played that role because some governments face political opposition to supplying weapons to Ukraine, others need logistical help and in some cases have outdated systems that Britain is helping to upgrade, officials said.
Reuters could not determine how many other such agreements Britain had helped; The Defense Ministry said it routinely works with partners around the world to secure equipment, but declined further comment.
“The UK has emerged as a leader among allies and partners in providing assistance to Ukraine,” US Pentagon spokesman Lt Col Anton Semmelroth said in a statement to Reuters.
Although Britain is increasingly engaged in diplomacy over the war in Ukraine, Kyiv says its stockpile of Soviet-era weapons is running low. It said it was using about 6,000 artillery shells a day, while a British defense source said Russia was using about 20,000 shells a day. Britain’s existing artillery stockpile would run out in days if used at the same rate as Russia, the source said.
Analysts say Western countries will soon come to a strategic turning point, having to decide whether to double arms to Ukraine or push for talks with Moscow to end the war.
With Britain facing an economic and cost-of-living crisis, it may be a challenge to convince the public to continue supporting Ukraine in a war that could last years, said James Rogers, co-founder of the London-based foreign policy think tank policy Geostrategy.
The public initially supported foreign wars such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan, but then became disillusioned, opinion polls show.
“There are certainly tensions any time you’re spending taxpayers’ money,” Rogers said. “But the government has to try to convince people that we’re either spending the money now to stop Russia in Ukraine, or we’re facing even bigger costs somewhere else.”
“FINEST HOUR”
Johnson’s government, under pressure at home for months before he was forced out, was bold abroad. He cast himself as a modern-day Winston Churchill and, in a speech to Ukraine’s parliament in May, said the battle with Russia would be considered Ukraine’s “finest hour” – referring to Churchill’s declaration when Britain faced the threat of being Germany invaded and defeated by the Nazis in World War II.
In an interview with Reuters late last month, he said he wanted Ukraine to be flooded with more Western weapons to stop running out of Soviet-era artillery.
“So we are supplying Ukraine with materials, equipment, intelligence to make that country in the future, if not impregnable, then certainly a place that Russia does not want to attack,” he said during a trip to Rwanda for a Meeting of the summit of the British Commonwealth.
London’s role in helping to supply arms to Ukraine has grown pragmatically, according to British officials.
Britain first became aware of the threat of a Russian invasion last April when intelligence from satellite images indicated a build-up of Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders, according to a Western official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A small number of British officials began planning this last summer, the official said; in the weeks before the invasion, Britain began supplying NLAW (Next Generation Light Anti-Tank Weapons), according to the government. Those missiles were essential in derailing early Russian incursions into Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said; her Ministry of Defense celebrated Britain’s role in providing them in a video on Twitter, saying: “Thank you UK!” alongside images of William Shakespeare and James Bond.
Slowly, two British sources close to the prime minister say, Britain has started to help coordinate supplies and help other countries with logistics. Since April, a coalition of more than 40 nations has been coordinating aid through a U.S. base in Stuttgart, Germany, but U.K. and U.S. government sources said many discussions about what type of weapons were needed had also been between Zelenskyi and world leaders, such as officials of the Ukrainian defense and military.
After Johnson gathered Zelensky’s demands for their calls, Britain sent military attachés to search for the weapons in roughly a dozen countries, including those closest geographically to Russia, a defense source said.
Another defense source added that Britain was in talks with countries still using Soviet-era equipment to buy Soviet-era 300mm rockets for the Smerch system, anti-aircraft missiles, missiles for the BUK SA11 system and spare parts for T72 tanks .
The competition is fierce. British military attaches who tour countries for supplies occasionally come across their Russian counterparts shopping for the same items, a third British source familiar with the matter said. Talks are underway to purchase arms with nations further afield.
In the Czech Republic, a senior defense source said that when the Czechs supply something that is logistically difficult to transport, Britain helps and vice versa. “We do a lot of things together,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. They refused details of the weapons supplied.
Bulgaria does not directly export weapons to Ukraine, but has confirmed that Britain is among the countries that buy weapons from there.
“Bulgaria has (a) quite serious arms industry… At the moment, customers from Poland, the Czech Republic, England and other European Union countries have appeared with orders at very good prices,” Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said during the country’s national radio in June.
“The industry is booming right now,” he said, without specifying whether some of those exports were ultimately destined for Ukraine.
BORIS JONSONYUK
Johnson’s role boosted his and Britain’s popularity abroad. In a global survey last month, Britain’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was voted the best of all leading Western countries. About 7,000 people from the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan participated in the survey for the annual Munich Security Conference.
In Ukraine, a café in Kyiv sells an apple dessert called Boris Johnsonyuk, a Ukrainianized version of the prime minister’s name. A street in the southern port city of Odessa is named after the British prime minister; portraits of Johnson, depicted as a warrior wrapped in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, are on display at a museum in downtown Kyiv.
The deliveries have led to a closer relationship between Johnson and Zelensky, British sources said. Although their calls were mostly about arms deliveries, when Johnson and Zelensky spoke, according to one British source, they also jokingly referred to NLAW as “lovers” and sang songs with “lovers” in the lyrics.
There was no interpreter on their last call, the British aide said: The men spoke in English.
“There’s obviously a Johnson flavor to it,” said Rogers, the analyst. But he said Britain’s basic approach was unlikely to change much under a new leader: “The structural approach is probably locked in.”
Whoever takes over from Johnson, their next big challenge will be to move beyond buying Soviet-era material to a new phase, supplying Ukraine with more Western weapons and training its forces to use them.
“If Britain and the West want to…
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