LONDON — Boris Johnson accused Ukraine’s European allies of “headless chicken-ism” and urged them to “man up and step up” in the wake of Donald Trump’s bid to start peace talks with Russia.
The former British prime minister — a staunch supporter of Ukraine when in office — urged politicians across the West not to mis-read signals from the U.S. administration — and to take seriously Trump’s call for more European defense spending.
“There’s quite a lot of headless chicken-ism, quite frankly, from the Europeans about what the Trump administration is saying,” Johnson told GB News in an interview from Munich.
“Looking at what Trump is saying, looking at what [Defense Secretary] Pete Hegseth is saying, they’re not betraying Ukraine,” Johnson argued.
“They’re not walking away from Ukraine. They’re saying Ukraine’s got to be a sovereign, prosperous country. They’re saying that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin can’t win. They’re saying that they’ll continue to support Ukraine.”
Since leaving office in 2022, Johnson has regularly visited the United States and lobbied top Republicans to maintain support for Kyiv amid signs of wavering.
He has held talks with Trump on Ukraine, and met him at the Republican National Convention last July.
Johnson defended the U.S. president’s call for European nations to spend more on defense, saying “the American people elected him on a mandate to get value” — and stressed the U.K., now led by the Labour rival to his Conservative Party, needs to lead.
“What Trump is trying to say to the Europeans, to us Brits, to everyone, is man up and step up, or person up,” he said.
The ex-PM also rejected accusations Trump’s government is engaging in “appeasement” by starting talks with Putin — a charge European lawmakers have leveled against the U.S. this week.
“Trump knows very well that he personally cannot afford to have a chaotic collapse in Ukraine,” Johnson insisted. Trump could not, he argued, “afford to see the [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy government overwhelmed, Putin take over, a complete humiliation for NATO, humiliation for the West,” because such an outcome would define Trump’s legacy.
Johnson insisted Ukraine could still join NATO despite Hegseth insisting this is not on the cards: “You can’t be a sovereign country if you are constrained, if you’re prevented, at some stage in the future from deciding whether you’re going to join NATO.”
Boris Johnson: Europe acting like ‘headless chickens’ on Ukraine
Source: Viral Showbiz Pinay
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