Boris Johnson urged Trump to pressure Putin

The former UK prime minister noted that Putin, in this week's attack on Kyiv, which Johnson called "an act of supreme contempt", showed contempt for Western public opinion and his complete superiority over those trying to achieve peace.

Putin believes he is winning. He thinks, wrongly, I still hope and pray, that he has brought Donald Trump to where he wants to be. He thinks he has nothing to fear. He thinks that the more brutal and violent he is, the more civilians he kills and maims with his missiles and drones, the more respect he will command in the West and the more intimidated and humiliated we will all be.

He noted that the proposal for a “peace” deal that Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff brought from Moscow was “an undisguised capitulation to aggression.” According to Johnson, the current proposals provide neither reliable Western security guarantees for Ukraine nor a reliable long-term plan for military assistance from the West.

There is nothing in this agreement that could stop a third invasion. All Putin needs to do is rebuild his military, wait for the next opportune moment, and strike again.

He drew attention to Putin's 2021 essay on Ukraine, in which the Kremlin leader "vehemently denies the existence of a separate Ukrainian identity," as well as his interview with American TV host Tucker Carlson, where he says Ukraine is an "artificial country."

Hitler lied, just as Putin lied and lied before his invasion in 2022. He lies again. He wants Kyiv, he wants everything, and he is willing to wait,” Johnson stressed, suggesting that Putin could wait until the end of Trump’s presidency or the 2026 midterm elections to attack again.

He also noted that concessions to Putin “cannot and will not work.” They are completely unnecessary, as the Russian dictator’s real position is “much, much worse than is commonly believed,” Johnson added.

According to the British politician, Putin's greatest advantage is not military power, but the West's "strange and superstitious" belief, despite all the evidence, that Russia was somehow destined to win the war against Ukraine.

Why do people keep saying this? It's nonsense. Putin will not win, and he cannot win. He has awakened patriotic feelings in Ukraine that cannot and will not be defeated.

Johnson outlined two ways to improve current proposals for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The first is to drop any hint of legal recognition of Ukrainian territories seized by Russia and return to Trump’s original proposals for a ceasefire and freeze along the current contact line “without inflammatory erosion of Ukrainian sovereignty and with the prospect of the ultimate return of lost territory.”

The second way is to give Ukraine “much greater clarity” about its long-term security and defense. Johnson wrote about the possibility of deploying troops from the UK or other “like-minded countries” in Ukraine, a ten-year plan for significant Western military support for Ukraine, and a condition under which any third Putin invasion would trigger automatic Ukrainian membership in NATO.

At the same time, according to Johnson, Putin will do everything possible to block the agreement he described, because he knows that if Ukraine survives as an independent state, which it will do under the listed conditions, it will "slip out of his hands."

That's why it's finally time for Donald Trump to do what only he can do, and for the rest of us to give him the support he needs. It's time to take the noose off Ukraine's neck and put Putin under pressure.