Boris Johnson warns Vladimir Putin he will face decades of ‘bloodshed and misery’ if his troops invade Ukraine
BORIS Johnson yesterday warned Vladimir Putin he will face decades of “bloodshed and misery” if his troops invade Ukraine.
The PM said a full-scale attack by Russia would “echo around the world” — with catastrophic consequences.
He predicted it would leave the Kremlin boss bogged down with crippling sanctions while fighting a “long and hideous” war.
Mr Johnson hammered home the stark message as President Putin personally oversaw missile drills close to the Ukraine border.
In a powerful speech to western leaders, the PM warned Russia’s military build-up had created “extreme danger for the world”.
He told a security conference in Munich the “omens are grim” on the possibility of an invasion in the next few days. And he rallied western partners to remain united against the threat because the stakes could not be higher.
The shockwaves of an invasion would lead other tyrants to conclude that “aggression pays”, he added. Mr Johnson said: “If Ukraine is overwhelmed, we will witness the destruction of a democratic state, a country that has been free for a generation, with a proud history of elections.
“Every time that western ministers have visited Kyiv, we’ve assured the people of Ukraine and their leaders that we stand four-square behind their sovereignty and independence.
“How hollow, how meaningless, how insulting those words would seem if — at the very moment when their sovereignty and independence is imperilled — we simply look away.” As he spoke, Putin was putting on a show of military strength with nuclear drills.
Most read in The Sun
He personally oversaw highly provocative exercises by nuclear forces with practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.
Putin’s ally — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — joined him in a situation room in the Kremlin as he gave the order to send a MiG fighter jet armed with a hypersonic missile over the Mediterranean.
Western nations have warned that Russia could invade Ukraine at any moment — with more than 190,000 of its troops, plus around 10,000 from puppet state Belarus, massed near the border.
Putin is accused of trying to stage a fake crisis in a pro-Russian breakaway eastern region of Ukraine to give a bogus excuse to attack. But Mr Johnson claimed President Putin and his circle are “gravely miscalculating” the task ahead if they try to invade.
A generation of bloodshed and misery
He said: “I fear that a lightning war would be followed by a long and hideous period of reprisals and revenge and insurgency.
“Russian parents would mourn the loss of young Russian soldiers, who in their way are every bit as innocent as the Ukrainians now bracing themselves for attack.
“And if Ukraine is overrun by brute force, I fail to see how a country encompassing nearly a quarter of a million square miles — the biggest nation in Europe apart from Russia itself — could then be held down and subjugated for ever.
“After a generation of freedom, we’re now staring at a generation of bloodshed and misery. I believe Russia would have absolutely nothing to gain from this catastrophic venture and everything to lose.
“And while there is still time, I urge the Kremlin to de-escalate, to disengage its forces from the frontier and to renew our dialogue.” Meanwhile, crack troops in Ukraine ramped up beach patrols to defend against a dreaded D-Day style attack by its powerful neighbour.
A fleet of Russian landing ships which can spew out tanks and troops were spotted loading up last week, fuelling fears of an assault.
At least 13 of the ships have massed in the Black Sea, backed by missile cruisers and submarines.
The Sun on Sunday joined the elite Ukrainian forces in an amphibious armoured vehicle as they roared along a beach near the port town of Odessa.
Commander Colonel Vitaliy Guliaev said: “We are ready for anything. Putin has 13 landing ships, enough to move two brigades. But I promise he won’t be able to stroll in. We know where he can land and are going to make it hard.”
Russia has long resisted former Soviet republic Ukraine’s move towards Nato membership, seeing the eastward expansion of the military alliance as a threat.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss underlined the PM’s tough message at a meeting of G7 ministers.
She said Ukraine has made enough concessions to the Kremlin already and she was opposed to signing away its sovereignty or offering any rewards to Russia for its bullying behaviour.
