Ukraine Can Finally End This War, Says Former British PM

The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson wrote an article for the Daily Mail expressing admiration for the Ukrainian Armed Forces' advance in the Kursk region and calling on Britain to allow Ukraine to strike Russian airbases with British long-range weapons.

The article, titled "After a Week of Tactical Brilliance, Ukraine Can Finally End This War," was published in the Daily Mail. According to Johnson, Russian leader Vladimir Putin was irritated during a report from the Kursk governor about Ukrainian troops penetrating Russian territory, which further humiliated the Russian dictator.

Johnson notes that the Russian dictator, at the outset of his "evil and ­unjustified invasion," "never in his worst nightmares did he imagine that one day Ukrainian tanks would be crossing into Russia; or that they would capture more territory in about a week – more than 1,000 square kilometres – than the ­Russians have captured in a year," and that he would have to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Russians and pay them $100 each.

The former British Prime Minister writes that the "lightning dash" of the Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region "reminds us of the key truth about the whole war: that from the beginning we have always underestimated the Ukrainians."

"We have underestimated their boldness – their willingness to do what people have thought impossible. And we have chronically underestimated their sheer fury at the Russian invader – the deep yearning in Ukrainian breasts to expel Putin's troops from every inch of Ukrainian land. So for pity's sake, can we finally cut the cackle, drop the ludicrous Putin-phobia and give the Ukrainians the tools they really need to finish the job; and by that I mean the proper permission to use the tools we have already given," Johnson states.

The former British Prime Minister called for an end to half-measures and delays to truly end the war.

"We can all see why the Kursk operation is tactically brilliant. By taking and then defending a chunk of Russian territory, the Ukrainians pose a grim strategic challenge for Putin," the politician writes, reflecting on how the Russian dictator will have to return seized Ukrainian territories with new waves of mobilized troops and redeploy forces from other fronts.

Johnson also reminded that Russian forces are destroying Ukrainian positions in Donbas with air-dropped bombs, while allies "have been forcing Ukrainians to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. The only way to stop the glide bombs is to hit the air bases used by those Russian planes; and the only way to hit those bases is to use the Western kit they already have. The Ukrainians have the ATACMS system from the US, they have bunker-busting Storm Shadow missiles from the UK," writes Johnson.

“We are told, as ever, that we fear 'escalation'. But in truth the ­person who really fears escalation is Putin. He has lost hundreds of thousands of troops; he has lost huge quantities of armour; he is now severely overstretched. Now is the moment for the friends of Ukraine, led by the US and the UK, to go up a gear.”

“Now is the time for the UK to do the same again: show some ­leadership, show some initiative on Storm Shadow, and the rest of our friends and allies will follow suit,” former British Prime Minister concluded.