Trump thinks Ukraine is to blame for the war – got anything to say, Boris?

As we watch the endgame tragedy of Ukraine and President Zelensky desperately struggles to salvage anything from the peace talks he’s been excluded from, he must wonder: where are my dear friends in the West when I need them? And a few months later, in the House of Commons, now speaking from the backbenches, Johnson was unequivocal about Western war aims, in terms that were to be heard so often in the ensuing bitter months of the attritional war: “At this turning point in the war, it is more vital than ever that we have the strategic patience to hold our nerve and ensure that Ukrainians succeed in recapturing their territory right to the borders of 24 February and, if possible, to the pre-2014 boundaries, because that is what international law demands … It was our collective failure to insist on upholding international law eight years ago that emboldened Putin to launch his disastrous invasion this year.” No one did more than Johnson to persuade the European powers and the Americans to see the vital importance of Ukraine’s struggle for the West – and to call Putin’s bluff. According to Johnson, Trump “believes there can be no peace deal unless Putin gives back land that he currently holds”, but certainly that doesn’t mean all the territory Russia has stolen. The last Conservative prime minister has confined himself to saying that the “United Kingdom and its European allies must lead in providing Ukraine military support and potentially military presence across land, air and sea, to give Ukraine confidence that any peace will endure?” Which, he must know, won’t be sufficient to stop Putin without the Americans standing behind it. The leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, got himself into trouble during the election by suggesting that it was Nato’s “provocation” that meant Putin invaded – and wanted a “deal” asap.