Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement after Russian invades Ukraine


Prime Minister’s Address to the Nation on the situation in Ukraine: 24 February 2022

"Shortly after 4 o’clock this morning I spoke to president Zelenskyy of Ukraine to offer the continued support of the UK.

Because our worst fears have now come true and all our warnings have proved tragically accurate.

President Putin of Russia has unleashed war in our European continent. He has attacked a friendly country without any provocation and without any credible excuse.

Innumerable missiles and bombs have been raining down on an entirely innocent population.

A vast invasion is underway by land by sea and by air.

And this is not in the infamous phrase some faraway country of which we know little.

We have Ukrainian friends in this country; neighbours, co-workers.

Ukraine is a country that for decades has enjoyed freedom and democracy and the right to choose its own destiny.

We – and the world – cannot allow that freedom just to be snuffed out.

We cannot and will not just look away.

It is because we have been so alarmed in recent months at the Russian intimidation that the UK became one of the first countries in Europe to send defensive weaponry to help the Ukrainians.

Other allies have now done the same and we will do what more we can in the days ahead.

Today in concert with our allies we will agree a massive package of economic sanctions designed in time to hobble the Russian economy.

And to that end we must also collectively cease the dependence on Russian oil and gas that for too long has given Putin his grip on western politics.

Our mission is clear.

Diplomatically, politically, economically – and eventually, militarily – this hideous and barbaric venture of Vladimir Putin must end in failure.

And so I say to the people of Russia, whose president has just authorised a tidal wave of violence against a fellow Slavic people.

The parents of Russian soldiers who will lose their lives.

I cannot believe this is being done in your name or that you really want the pariah status it will bring to the Putin regime.

And I say to the Ukrainians in this moment of agony:

  • we are with you
  • we are praying for you and your families
  • and we are on your side.

And if the months ahead are grim, and the flame of freedom burns low.

I know that it will blaze bright again in Ukraine.

Because for all his bombs and tanks and missiles I don’t believe that the Russian dictator will ever subdue the national feeling of the Ukrainians and their passionate belief that their country should be free,

and I say to the British people, and all who have heard the threats from Putin against those who stand with Ukraine,

we will of course do everything to keep our country safe.

We are joined in our outrage by friends and allies around the world.

We will work with them – for however long it takes – to ensure that the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine is restored.

Because this act of wanton and reckless aggression is an attack not just on Ukraine.

It is an attack on democracy and freedom in East Europe and around the world.

This crisis is about the right of a free, sovereign independent European people to choose their own future.

And that is a right that the UK will always defend."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the...
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more