Quote of the day 30th August: Boris Johnson on the War in Ukraine

Former PM Boris Johnson was interviewed at the ET World Leaders Forum 2026 by Executive Editor of The Economic Times Sruthijith KK, August 22,2026.

Here is a short extract from the interview: you can read the whole transcript at

Transcript of Boris Johnson Interview: ET World Leaders Forum 2026 – The Singju Post

SRUTHIJITH KK: (00:26:07 – 00:26:32): In April this year, you went to the front lines of the war in Ukraine. You have since spoken out about the impact of drone warfare. Yes. How are drones changing the— I mean, firstly, take us through your thoughts on the war and where it’s going, and especially how are drones changing the equations on the ground?

BORIS JOHNSON: (00:26:32 – 00:32:30): Yeah, well, SK, I mean, it’s a brilliant point. I mean, I don’t know whether anybody has been to Ukraine or talked to the Ukrainians about what’s happened, or to the Russians, but the drone thing is really terrifying. You can be blapped, you’ve zapped, blipped at any time, and miles from the front line. And so it has changed the face of war, and it’s very scary. And those Ukrainians are heroic.

But the thing I would like to convey to a great, great Indian audience is, look, do not believe the propaganda that Putin is fated to win this war. He is not. I would put it to you that he is fated to lose this war. He’s fated to lose it because he’s going up against the desire of the Ukrainian people to be independent and to be free. And when the people want to be free, they’re just about the most powerful human emotion apart from religion in the, in the, in our breasts, right? But people want their country to be free. There’s nothing that’s going to stop them. British Empire discovered that, right? Nothing. And they will be free.

What needs to happen is that war needs to end. And if you ask me what I think should happen, I think that the Ukrainians should be given the maximum possible help. And yeah, I think that it would be a good thing if the Tomahawks were given to them to take out the Russian bases that are used to bomb Ukrainian civilians.

I think that the hundreds, $140 billion of Putin’s cash that’s sitting there in a Brussels bank account, that should go to Ukraine. Those are some of the things that I think we should stop the trade in illegal, in sanctioned oil that’s going on around the world in Putin’s oil. That would make a huge difference. Get it over. Get it over.

And I don’t think it’s that far. 

Honestly, sometimes I don’t think it’s that far from being over. The only guy who can end this war is Vladimir Putin. Trump can’t do it. Zelensky can’t do it. Only Putin can do it. And he’s losing 30,000 people a month. His economy is in real difficulties. He needs to be persuaded that it’s in his interests to get it done.

And that’s the difficult thing. And at the moment, he’s worried that what will happen is the minute he stops, the recriminations will begin. 

And everybody will say, Vladimir Vladimirovich, why did you kill 1.1 million Russians, or whatever the number now is, far more that have died in any conflict since the Second World War. Why have you done this when we’ve achieved so little? He’s terrified of that. That’s why he won’t stop.

And somehow, we need to flip the switch in his brain to make him realise that going on is worse than stopping. I mean, going on is worse than stopping because he’s just going to keep losing people to no avail. A snail, literally a snail, would go twice as fast to the Polish border as the Russian advance in the last year. They’re never going to do it. And the Ukrainians are never, never going to surrender their country.

So the faster, the more pressure we— what I’m trying to make is, the more pressure we can put on Putin, And I appreciate that India is in a particular position on this, but the more pressure we can put on Putin, the faster we can do it, the better.

But, you know, I remember once, I mean, I had this conversation with your great Prime Minister many times, and I was once saying to Her Late Majesty the Queen of England, you know, how difficult it was to persuade our Indian friends firmly to come down against Russia. And she said, well, she was quick. Actually, it was very shortly before she died.

And she said quick as a flash, oh yes. I remember in 1952 when I was talking to Prime Minister Nehru and he said, “Your Majesty, India will always basically be on the side of Russia. Some things never change, they just are,” he said.

I don’t know whether you agree with that analysis, I was very struck by that. And it just, you know, I think we have to go with the historical reality. But I would just urge you to, you know, I don’t think this thing is going to end without more pressure on Russia. And honestly, what I would love to have seen is, you know, India doing more. I mean, this is our fault, right? Like so many other things. But I would like to have seen more military cooperation between India and the UK and India and the United States. I think that would have been much more sensible. And, but it’s happening now.