Boris Johnson pushes for NATO to give tanks to Ukraine

Boris Johnson is trying to persuade NATO allies to supply tanks to Ukraine in a move that has put him at odds with France.

Boris Johnson is trying to persuade NATO allies to supply tanks to Ukraine in a move that has put him at odds with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky asked NATO on Thursday for hundreds of tanks and jets during a video address to the NATO summit in Brussels, saying his country needed them to survive.

He said he wanted only 1 per cent of the military alliance’s tanks and jets and said “we will see who is our friend, who is our partner and who has sold us out and betrayed us”.

The British Prime Minister said that while Britain wanted to help there were “logistical” problems. He wanted allies nearer Ukraine to provide armoured vehicles. However, Mr Macron ruled out supplying tanks and planes ­because of concerns that doing so could drag NATO into direct conflict with Russia. He said the issue was a “red line” and the alliance did not want to become a “co-­belligerent”.

Mr Johnson told a news conference at the summit: “He [Zelensky] did indeed call for tanks and there’s a particular reason for that. What President Zelensky wants to do is try to relieve Mariupol and help thousands of Ukrainian fighters in the city.

“To that end, he does need ­armour as he sees it. We’re looking at what we can do but I’ve got to tell you, logistically at the moment it looks very difficult with both ­armour and jets.

“The equipment we think is more immediately valuable is missiles that will enable the Ukrainians to protect themselves from bombardment from the air, but also to deal with the Russian artillery that are dealing death and ­destruction in cities.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that the Baltic states were next on Russia’s hit list. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Johnson said Vladimir Putin’s “barbaric” invasion had “galvanised” the global community. “We will work with like-minded allies to ramp up lethal aid to Ukraine at scale.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov singled out Mr Johnson as the “most active anti-Russian leader”. “It will lead to a foreign policy dead end,” Mr Peskov said. Downing St said that Mr Johnson was against Mr Putin, not the Russian people.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said leaders had agreed to step up supplies of weapons and equipment but refused to say whether tanks would be sent to Ukraine.

NATO has increased its ­deployment to 40,000 troops on the alliance’s eastern flank in ­addition to five aircraft carrier strike groups taking up positions from the Arctic to the Mediterranean – a tenfold increase on what was there before the invasion on February 24. Analysts last week estimated that the total number of extra NATO troops sent to eastern Europe stood at 22,000.

Mr Zelensky also asked NATO to provide his besieged country with multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-ship weapons and air defence systems. “Is it possible to survive in such a war without this?” he asked.

Greece, Bulgaria and Slovakia rebuffed calls for them to donate a Soviet-era long-range missile system, the S-300, amid concerns that they would have air defence shortfalls and be targeted by Russia.

Mr Zelensky warned: “Russia wants to move on. Against eastern members of NATO, the Baltic states and certainly against ­Poland.”

Mr Stoltenberg said: “On the land we will have substantially more forces in the eastern part of the alliance at higher readiness with more pre-positioned equipment and supplies.

“In the air we will deploy more jets and strengthen our integrated air and missile defence. At sea we will have carrier strike groups, submarines and significant numbers of combat ships on a persistent basis.”

He confirmed that four battlegroup units in Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary had been deployed, on top of an enhanced presence in Poland and the Baltic states.

The Times