UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the reverberations of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine would be felt globally, the same day that G7 member states issued a statement expressing solidarity with Kyiv.
According to BBC, at a security conference in Munich, PM Johnson said that the invasion would “echo around the world” and said that in all honesty no one should “underestimate the gravity of this moment”. He said he didn’t know what Russian PM Vladmir Putin was going to do but the “omens are grim”.
The UK leader expressed hope that the situation in Eastern Europe could still be resolved through dialogue, insisting that unity was required amongst UK’s western allies to do so. He furthered that western ministers had always told Ukraine that they would stand by them but the words would seem “hollow”, “meaningless” and “insulting” if they looked away while Kyiv’s “sovereignty and independence is imperilled”.
PM Johnson was of the view that if Ukraine suffered, “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 cautioned that UK could possibly reign in more sanctions on Russia if it proceeded to invade Ukraine. PM Johnson said that UK would make it difficult for some Russian companies to raise funds in London. His words at the conference came after a new legislation was curated, allowing UK to expand its sanctions against Russia.
The premier also met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at the security conference and the two reached a consensus on “joint next step”, the BBC reported.
Johnson’s comment came the say day that reports of unrest came out of eastern Ukraine. Journalist Idrees Ali, citing President Zelenskiy’s spokeswoman said that some lawmakers and international media were visiting the area that was controlled by Russia and they had to be taken to safety after firing ensued.
The US embassy in Kyiv later tweeted the same development of trouble in the Russia-controlled areas, adding that Russia was orchestrating the unrest to blame Ukraine. In a tweet, the embassy expressed solidarity with Ukraine and said Russia was the “aggressor” in the case.
The show of solidarity by US and UK was also bolstered by the G7 member states expressing support to Ukraine in a statement on Saturday. In the statement, foreign ministers from the G7 states including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US and the high representative of the European Union expressed concern about “Russia’s threatening military buildup”.
The signatories condemned the use of dangerous weaponry and shelling in civilian areas by Russia and said that if it failed to deescalate, grave consequences like enhanced sanctions could be levelled in coordination between the G7 states.
The statement, in noting that Russia had expressed interest in a peaceful resolution, implored Moscow to take the diplomatic route to solve the crisis. It further noted that the G7 states stood strong with Ukraine and lauded its “posture of restraint” in the wake of a threat.
The west has rallied around Ukraine a time that tensions have been mounting in Eastern Europe, with Russia having amassed thousands of troops at its border with Ukraine.
The West has alleged that Russia was posturing for war, but the country has denied any plans to do so. Instead, it has demanded that Ukraine not be given membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and for the diminishing of the alliance’s forces in Eastern Europe.
Both the US and NATO have categorically denied accepting these demands.
