Boris Johnson visits Kyiv, announcing £54mn in support
The prime minister has made an unexpected visit to Ukraine to announce further military support. In a post on Twitter, with a photograph of Johnson next to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he wrote:
What happens in Ukraine matters to us all. That is why I am in Kyiv today.
The latest £54mn support package includes unmanned surveillance and missile systems for the Ukrainian military. Johnson said:
Today’s package of support will give the brave and resilient Ukrainian armed forces another boost in capability, allowing them to continue to push back Russian forces and fight for their freedom.
Speaking in Kyiv, Johnson said:
Out of the ashes of your towns and cities, out of the monstrous scars that are being left by Putin’s missiles, something beautiful is blooming and it’s a flower that the whole world can see and admire, and that is the unconquerable will of Ukrainians to resist.
In his final visit as prime minister, Johnson received Ukraine’s highest award bestowed on foreign nationals, the Order of Liberty, for the UK’s staunch support of Ukraine’s freedom.
What happens in Ukraine matters to us all.
That is why I am in Kyiv today.
That is why the UK will continue to stand with our Ukrainian friends.
I believe Ukraine can and will win this war. pic.twitter.com/FIovnqJGTS
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 24, 2022
While Johnson visits Ukraine for the fourth time this year, in three weeks’ time, he will no longer be UK prime minister. Despite the country being beset by a series of crises, from the mounting cost of living crisis to war in Ukraine, he has been accused of leading a “zombie” government.
Earlier today, Johnson reiterated his support for Ukraine on the country’s independence day. He wrote: “For however long it takes, the United Kingdom will stand with you”.
Key events
Larry Elliott
Britain is importing no energy from Russia for the first time on record after trade between the two countries collapsed after the Kremlin ordered invasion of Ukraine in February.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released six months after the start of the war found that in June the UK’s imports from Russia were down by 97% and stood at only £33m as sanctions took effect.
The ONS data shows that by June the UK government had already achieved its objective of phasing out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 and ending imports of liquefied natural gas as soon as possible after that.
Read more here:
Five predictions for the next six months in the war in Ukraine
Dan Sabbagh
1. The war will probably run on for a year at least, but is essentially deadlocked and its intensity lessening
Six months of war may have gone by, but neither Ukraine or Russia are ready to stop fighting, despite the losses they have sustained. Ukraine wants its occupied territories back, and Russia wants to keep inflicting pain not just on its opponent but, by proxy, the west also. The Kremlin believes winter will play to its advantage too.
There have been no negotiations between the two sides since evidence emerged of the massacres at Bucha, Irpin and elsewhere in territories occupied by the Russians north of Kyiv. But movement in the frontlines has been minimal since the fall of Lysychansk at the end of June. Both sides are struggling for momentum and increasingly appear combat exhausted.
2. Ukraine has no means of effective conventional counterattack, while guerrilla raids are an optimistic way to precipitate a Russian collapse
Ukraine would like to retake Kherson on the west of the Dnieper river, but a senior administration figure admitted in private that “we do not have enough capacity to push them back”. Kyiv has shifted its strategy to mounting long-range missile attacks and daring special forces raids on Russian bases deep behind the frontlines.
The key presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the aim was to “create chaos within the Russian forces” but – while it will blunt the invader’s effectiveness – it is not likely it will lead to invaders collapsing in on themselves and voluntarily conceding Kherson, as some Ukrainian officials have hoped.
3. Russia still wants to pound its way forward but its attention is likely to be shifting to holding on its gains and annexing Ukraine territory
Russia has no new offensive plan other than to mass artillery, destroy towns and cities and grind its way forward. It does this in part because it is effective, and in part to minimise casualties, having lost, on some western estimates – 15,000 dead so far. It continues to adopt this strategy around Bakhmut in the Donbas but progress is slow, partly because it has had to redeploy some forces to reinforce Kherson.
The Kremlin may not have achieved what it hoped at the beginning of the war, but Russia now holds large swathes of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and is actively talking about holding annexation referendums. With cooler weather fast approaching, it is likely to focus on consolidating what it has.
Read more here:
Boris Johnson visits Kyiv, announcing £54mn in support
The prime minister has made an unexpected visit to Ukraine to announce further military support. In a post on Twitter, with a photograph of Johnson next to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he wrote:
What happens in Ukraine matters to us all. That is why I am in Kyiv today.
The latest £54mn support package includes unmanned surveillance and missile systems for the Ukrainian military. Johnson said:
Today’s package of support will give the brave and resilient Ukrainian armed forces another boost in capability, allowing them to continue to push back Russian forces and fight for their freedom.
Speaking in Kyiv, Johnson said:
Out of the ashes of your towns and cities, out of the monstrous scars that are being left by Putin’s missiles, something beautiful is blooming and it’s a flower that the whole world can see and admire, and that is the unconquerable will of Ukrainians to resist.
In his final visit as prime minister, Johnson received Ukraine’s highest award bestowed on foreign nationals, the Order of Liberty, for the UK’s staunch support of Ukraine’s freedom.
What happens in Ukraine matters to us all.
That is why I am in Kyiv today.
That is why the UK will continue to stand with our Ukrainian friends.
I believe Ukraine can and will win this war. pic.twitter.com/FIovnqJGTS
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 24, 2022
While Johnson visits Ukraine for the fourth time this year, in three weeks’ time, he will no longer be UK prime minister. Despite the country being beset by a series of crises, from the mounting cost of living crisis to war in Ukraine, he has been accused of leading a “zombie” government.
Earlier today, Johnson reiterated his support for Ukraine on the country’s independence day. He wrote: “For however long it takes, the United Kingdom will stand with you”.
Here are the latest photos to come out of Ukraine and elsewhere, as the nation’s independence day coincides with six months since Russia’s invasion.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has vowed to regain territories taken by Russia in a speech marking 31 years since the end of Soviet rule and six months since the war began.
In an address delivered in front of Kyiv’s central monument to independence from the Soviet Union, he said:
For us, Ukraine is all of Ukraine. All 25 regions, without any concessions or compromises. It doesn’t matter to us what kind of army you have; what matters to us is our land. We will fight for it until the end.
Thousands of people have been killed since the war began on 24 February, with Ukraine acknowledging 9,000 military deaths, and there is little hope that an end to the fighting is in sight
From Kyiv, Emma Graham-Harrison looks at the traditional dress of Ukraine’s president as the country celebrates 31 years since declaring its independence from the Soviet Union.
Zelenskiy shows off his impeccable comms skills once again — wearing a traditional Ukrainian vyshyvanka shirt for independence day, but in military colour of his usual fatigues, and embroidered with a tank and APC https://t.co/0S9b1ZfA6R
— Emma Graham-Harrison (@_EmmaGH) August 24, 2022
Lithuania’s president has expressed concern at Russia’s ambitions beyond the borders of Ukraine, and called the war a “true miscalculation”.
Speaking on Sky News, Gitanas Nausėda said:
Ukraine is fighting for their freedom, but I think Ukraine is fighting also for us, for the freedom of democracy.
Nausėda added:
Everybody understands that there’s no limit of appetite of Vladimir Putin and Kremlin’s regime. If they will succeed in Ukraine there will be [a] continuation of this aggression and expansion.
When asked if he was worried of Putin’s ambitions to go beyond Ukraine’s borders, Nausėda responded: “Unfortunately, yes.”
During a visit to Salisbury Plain, Keir Starmer said the UK “will not be divided politically” in it’s defence of Ukraine against Russian aggression.
According to PA Media, the Labour leader met with both Ukrainian and British personnel during his visit this morning, and said:
Six months after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, I’ve been here in Salisbury Plain watching Ukrainian troops being trained by British troops with live rounds, simulating the situation they are going to be facing. I’ve been so impressed with the training I’ve seen here, that the global reputation of British forces is of grit, of class and that sort of steely determination and courage on the battlefield.
Starmer added:
“My mission, my message to the Ukrainian people, to our troops, our Nato allies, is that on the issue of defending Ukraine against Russian aggression, we stand united. We will not be divided politically in the United Kingdom on this and I’ve been able to deliver that message first-hand amongst this very, very impressive training.”
US president Joe Biden marked Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday with a new security assistance package nearing $3bn (£2.5bn) to equip the country for a war of attrition fought primarily in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Announcing the largest support package for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion six months ago, Biden said:
The United States of America is committed to supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue the fight to defend their sovereignty.
Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the US has committed approximately $10.6bn in security assistance to Ukraine.
Jason Rodrigues
Ukraine gained independence in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when hardline Communist leaders attempted to restore central Communist party control over the USSR.
Days after the coup, a special session of the Ukrainian parliament voted by 321 votes to two with 31 abstentions to declare Ukraine an “independent and sovereign republic”, in which Soviet law no longer applied.
Artist Vitoria Drozdovskaya, in the crowd outside the parliament building in Kiev, said “now we can finally live like human beings after decades of living like animals”.
Marta Dyczok in Kiev and John Rettie in Moscow reported for the Guardian on Ukraine’s historic independence on 26 August 1991. Here’s the Guardian piece published on that day:
Pope Francis been criticised for his remarks on Wednesday on the death of Daria Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultranationalist intellectual allied with President Vladimir Putin, killed by a car bomb Saturday.
Earlier, Francis, citing “the innocents who are paying for madness”, said:
I think of that poor girl who died because of a bomb under the seat of her car in Moscow.
In an unusual public criticism of the Pope’s remarks, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, wrote that Wednesday’s speech was “disappointing”.
Today’s speech ofPope was disappointing& made me think about many things: can’t speak inSame categories aboutАggressor &Victim, Rapist and Raped; howPossible To Mention 1of ideologists of🇷🇺ImperialismAs innocent victim?She wasKilledBy russiansAsSacredVictim &isNowOn Shield ofWar pic.twitter.com/GvvM7zJDCa
— Andrii Yurash (@AndriiYurash) August 24, 2022
Damian Carrington
US and UK financial institutions have been among the leading investors in Russian “carbon bomb” fossil fuel projects, according to a new database of holdings from recent years.
Campaigners in Ukraine said these institutions must immediately end such investments, to limit the funding of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to avoid climate breakdown.
Carbon bombs are fossil-fuel extraction projects identified by researchers to contain at least 1bn tonnes of climate-heating CO2, triple the UK’s annual emissions. Russia is a hotspot, with 40 carbon bombs, 19 of them operated or developed by Russian companies backed by foreign finance. The companies are Gazprom, Novatek, Lukoil, Rosneft oil company and Tatneft.
Read more on how the UK and US banks are among the biggest backers of Russian ‘carbon bombs’ here:
A former mayor of Russia’s fourth-largest city was arrested Wednesday on charges of discrediting the country’s military, part of a crackdown on dissent of Moscow’s military action.
Police arrested Yevgeny Roizman, a critic of the Kremlin, who served as the mayor of Yekaterinburg in 2013-2018, following searches at his apartment and office, according to AP.
Roizman, 59, told reporters he was charged under a new law adopted after Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24. Earlier this year, he was fined on similar charges. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
Pope Francis has renewed called for peace for the “beloved” Ukraine on the country’s independence day and the six-month anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion.
Following his weekly general audience at the Vatican, Francis directed his address to “the beloved Ukrainian people who for six months today have been suffering the horror of war,” AFP reports.
Referring to the Russian-controlled nuclear plant in souther Ukraine, and Europe’s largest, which has been the target of military strikes, Francis added:
I hope that concrete steps will be taken to put an end to the war and to avert the risk of a nuclear disaster in Zaporizhzhia.
Francis also mentioned Daria Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultranationalist intellectual allied with President Vladimir Putin, who was killed by a car bomb Saturday. ““I think of that poor girl who died because of a bomb under the seat of her car in Moscow,” he said.
