Boris Johnson has described Donald Trump‘s Russia-Ukraine war “peace deal” as “an undisguised capitulation to aggression”. The former prime minister warned there is nothing in the White House proposal to stop Russia from invading its neighbour a third time. Mr Johnson, writing in the Daily Mail, said: “All Putin needs to do is rebuild his armed forces, wait for another propitious moment and strike again.” He added it is time “to take the boot off the Ukrainian neck” and “put the squeeze on Putin”.
The peace proposal from the Trump administration includes recognising Russian authority over Crimea. That idea shocked Ukrainian officials, who have said they will not accept any formal surrender of the peninsula, even though they expect to concede the territory to the Kremlin at least temporarily. Giving up the land, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, is also politically and legally impossible, according to experts. It would require a change to the Ukrainian constitution and a nationwide vote. It could also be considered treason. Ukrainians are firmly opposed to the idea.
Mr Trump voiced the idea when he told Time magazine last week: “Crimea will stay with Russia. Zelensky understands that, and everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time.”
Russia has also seized Ukrainian territory in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
His comments offered the latest example of the US leader pressurising Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under attack. Mr Trump has also accused Mr Zelensky of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US President went on to say on Saturday that he doubted Putin wants to end his war in Ukraine, expressing fresh scepticism a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, Mr Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal”.
Mr Johnson said the current US proposal hands Putin “what he wants most of all”, this being the “right to control the future of Ukraine” through its exclusion from the NATO military alliance.
The deal would also see sanctions lifted on Russia and the country rewarded with a long-term economic partnership with the US. The former PM bemoaned the absence of a “bankable” security gurantee from the West and of a credible plan for Western military aid for Ukraine under the current US proposal.
He added: “There is nothing like enough in these proposals to stop him (Putin).” Mr Johnson dismissed the proposed peace deal as “a grotesque insult” to Ukrainians.
Mr Trump is “right to try to make peace”, but there are two ways to improve the proposals, according to Mr Johnson.
The first is to reject any suggestion of recognising areas occupied by Russian troops as belonging to Russia while the second is to provide “much greater clarity” about Ukraine‘s security in the long term.
Mr Johnson said that, to deter Russia from invading again, Ukraine needs “abundant” military support from the West, guaranteed by the US, UK, France and other allies. He also called for further sanctions to force Putin to the negotiating table and asked why using Russia‘s $300billion (£225 billion) in frozen assets for Ukraine has been ignored.
Mr Trump has lately hinted there may be further sanctions against Russia. He wrote on Truth Social en route to the US from Rome, where he attended Pope Francis’s funeral: “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days…
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
Mr Trump also said earlier on social media that Russia and Ukraine should meet for “very high-level talks” on ending the war. Neither Mr Putin nor Mr Zelensky commented on Mr Trump’s call.