Boris Johnson: Russian invasion of Ukraine would ‘cause shock around the world’

Mr Johnson said Russia’s plan for invasion ‘appears to be in motion’
Tammy Hughes19 February 2022

Boris Johnson has said the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia “appears to be in motion” and the international shock of any conflict “will echo around the world”.

The Prime Minister said intelligence shows a conflict between Moscow and Kyiv looks “increasingly likely” at the Munich Security Conference.

During a speech in front of world leaders Mr Johnson urged Moscow to engage in talks to prevent an invasion.

“If Ukraine is invaded, and if Ukraine is overwhelmed, we will witness the destruction of a democratic state – a country that has been free for a generation with a proud history of elections,” he said.

Mr Johnson added that in the event of conflict, the UK would impose sanctions and make it impossible for them to raise finance in London.

“If Russia invades its neighbour, we will sanction Russian individuals and companies of strategic importance to the Russian state, and we will make it impossible for them to raise finance on the London capital markets,” he said.

Military helicopters fly over tanks and armored vehicles moving during Russia-Belarus military drills at the Obuz-Lesnovsky training ground in Belarus
AP

“We will open up the Matryoshka dolls of Russian-owned companies, and Russian-owned entities to find the ultimate beneficiaries within.”

Mr Johnson, who visited Kyiv a fortnight ago, warned an incursion by the reported 150,000 Russian troops amassed on the border would spark a “generation of bloodshed and misery”, with Ukrainians likely to fight for the return of their freedom.

World leaders are meeting in Bavaria as fears grow that instability in Russian separatist-held areas of Ukraine could spark an invasion by Moscow forces.

Two pro-Russian rebel groups, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) ordered mass evacuations on Friday as they accused Ukraine of planning an attack.

They have also declared the “full mobilisation” of their military forces.

Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Johnson added that an invasion of Ukraine appears to be “in motion” but added that it must still be “logically” possible to prevent a war.

“You know, you just cannot see how this makes sense for Russia,” he said.

“Imagine the invasion of Ukraine, a country of 45 million people, the second biggest country in Europe geographically apart from Russia itself – an absolutely colossal place.”

“You can’t hold it down. There will be a protracted, violent, bloody insurgency with the loss of life for young Russians, as well as for Ukrainians.”

Tensions have been rising between Russia and Ukraine ever since Kyiv began to grow closer to the West - leading Russia to annex Crimea in 2014 and stoke separatists to take up arms in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden used an address on Friday to warn that the US has reason to believe Russian forces “intend to attack” Ukraine in the coming days, including targeting the capital Kyiv - a city with a population of 2.8 million people.

Mr Biden told a White House press briefing he was “convinced” Mr Putin had “made the decision” to move his military across the border, having spent weeks saying he thought the Russian leader was undecided.

Ukrainian civilians train with a paramilitary unit to protect themselves against Russian forces
AP

Melinda Simmons, the British ambassador to Ukraine, has said she hopes to be working in the Ukrainian capital again “as soon as possible” after it was announced the UK’s embassy was being “temporarily” relocated to the west of the country, near the border of Poland.

She tweeted: “Getting started in Lviv today. And intending to be back in Kyiv as soon as is possible.”

The decision to shift Britain’s diplomatic effort away from the capital - which lies close to the border with Russian ally Belarus - came only hours before the US signalled Kyiv could be in the Kremlin’s firing line.

The Russian defence ministry has announced massive nuclear drills to flex its military muscle on Saturday, and Mr Putin - who is scheduled to watch the exercises - has pledged to protect Russia’s national interests against what it sees as encroaching Western threats.

Britain and the US, along with a host of western allies, have been united in promising punishing sanctions should Moscow order troops across the border.

Meanwhile, an undercurrent of unrest has continued to grow in the east of Ukraine, where government forces have been fighting pro-Russia rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people.

The long-simmering separatist conflict could provide the spark for a broader attack, with London and Washington raising the prospect of Russia using a “false flag” operation to give it cover for an offensive.

Denis Pushilin, the head of the pro-Russian separatist government in the Donetsk region, released a statement on Saturday announcing a full troop mobilisation and urging reservists to show up at military enlistment offices.

The announcement came as a mass evacuation of women, children and the elderly from the rebel-held territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to neighbouring Russia got under way in what some commentators speculated was part of Moscow’s efforts to paint Ukraine as the aggressor instead.

Friday marked a day of rising violence that included a humanitarian convoy hit by shelling and a car bombing in the eastern rebel-held city of Donetsk outside the main government building, while two explosions occurred in rebelled-controlled Luhansk.

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