Boris Johnson warns G7 countries and NATO allies against seeking "bad peace" in Ukraine
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson has warned that the G7 and NATO allies shouldn't encourage Ukraine to agree to unfavorable terms of peace at a time when russia's brutal war drags on.
Johnson said this while speaking to reporters who traveled with him to Rwanda, Politico reports.
Johnson repeated his concern "that there is a lot of Ukraine fatigue now in the world," and called on the Western powers to "give the Ukrainians strategic endurance."
"My message to colleagues at the G7 and at NATO, in particular, is… now is not the time to settle and encourage the Ukrainians to settle for a bad peace, for a peace for which they are invited to give up chunks of their territory in return for a cease-fire," said Boris Johnson.
He warned that such a scenario would be "a disaster," which is likely to give courage to russian president vladimir putin and cause additional economic damage to the world.
"It is time to recognize that the Ukrainians need help to change the dynamic in Donbas, Sievierodonetsk, and then the land bridge area in the south," he added.
Johnson stressed the importance of food security as he departed for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
"Some of the poorest countries in the world absolutely depend on supplies of grain from Ukraine," Johnson said.
He ruled out sending in the Navy to unblock Ukrainian exports but stressed the need to find a way of exporting the grain out that is not subject to putin's control.
Earlier, Reuters reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson signaled that Britain was willing to assist with demining operations off Ukraine's southern coast and was considering offering insurance to ships to move millions of tonnes of grain stuck in the country. He said this on Thursday, June 23, at the summit in Kigali.
Since russia's invasion of Ukraine and blockade of Black Sea ports, Ukraine, traditionally one of the world's top food producers, has been prevented from exporting much of the more than 20 million tonnes of grain stored in its silos. It led to increasing food prices and levels of hunger.
As reported by Rubryka, Turkey held talks in Moscow on unblocking the export of Ukrainian grain by sea and announced the possibility of talks "in the coming weeks" between the United Nations, Ukraine, and russia to create a possible safe sea corridor in the Black Sea.
At the Commonwealth summit in Rwanda, Johnson told Reuters in an interview, "There is a job of work to be done. We are working with the Turks and other European friends and allies to see what we can do."
