Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pose for a picture before a meeting, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | via Reuters
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday stressed that the public needs to keep up its support of Ukraine after nearly four months of war.
“The worry that we have is that a bit of Ukraine-fatigue is starting to set in around the world,” Johnson told reporters on the back of a trip to Kyiv. “It is very important to show that we are with them for the long haul and we are giving them that strategic resilience that they need.”
Johnson on Friday made his second surprise trip to the Ukrainian capital. The British government, in a show of support, offered Ukraine a military training program that could train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days. Johnson’s office said it would “fundamentally change the equation of the war.”
Johnson’s visit comes just after French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to offer support for Ukraine to become a candidate for EU membership.
The European Commission is expected to grant Ukraine candidate status at a summit next week after the European Commission on Friday recommended the move. Still, it will likely be years before EU member states are able to approve Kyiv’s accession to the bloc.
All of this comes as Ukraine continues to fight for its own territory. The UK Ministry of Defense on Saturday said that Russia has likely renewed its efforts to advance south of Izium in the past 48 hours, hoping to advance deeper into the Donetsk Oblast and surround Sievierodonetsk from the north. The industrial city is a prime target in the Kremlin’s efforts to take full control of the eastern Luhansk region.