British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has praised Ukrainians for “fighting heroically” against Russian aggression.
During a visit to RAF Brize Norton on Feb. 26, Johnson said the West had to do everything possible to change the “very heavy odds” against Ukraine in its resistance against Moscow’s forces.
He said: “Let’s be in no doubt, things are not going all the way of President [Vladimir] Putin, very far from it. The Ukrainians are fighting heroically, and in some places with great success, as many of us thought they would because they’re a great country and a very brave country.”
But Johnson said there are some “terrible atrocities being committed” and “there will be some very grim days ahead for Ukraine.”
“We’ve got to do everything we can to change the heavy odds that Ukraine faces and to help them, and so that’s why we’re sending humanitarian supplies, we’re sending financial supplies and military supplies as well,” he said.
Earlier, Johnson talked by telephone to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which he “paid tribute to the incredible heroism and bravery of President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.”
“The leaders agreed that President Putin is being met with a greater Ukrainian resistance than he calculated on,” Downing Street said in a statement.
It said the two leaders “agreed on the need for the international community to isolate Russia completely diplomatically and financially.”
Talking to the BBC on Feb. 27, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko said he believes his country will hold out for “as long as needed.”
He said “we have friends, we have support,” adding that he believes Russia has “miscalculated.”
“They came with 150,000 troops. It’s totally not enough,” he said.
He said Russia believed Ukraine would be an “easy target.” But he said that is not the case, as “the whole nation is against them.”
Prystaiko said many Ukrainians have military backgrounds and that people are “prepared,” adding that “people know how to create simple weapons.”
On Feb. 25, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry urged people in the capital Kyiv to make Molotov cocktail petrol bombs to “neutralise the occupier.”
Putin is “not achieving what he wanted,” Prystaiko said.
