Main image: Boris Johnson presents his book Unleashed in Lviv
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Lviv on September 11 to present the Ukrainian edition of his memoir “Unleashed” at the 33rd BookForum.
During the presentation, Johnson thanked the festival for the invitation and Ukrainian publisher Vivat for translating his book. He also recalled that the publishing house had itself been affected by a Russian attack.
“Putin is trying to destroy Ukrainian books,” Johnson said. “But Putin should read this book, because he could learn from it why he is losing. He will never be able to break Ukraine and conquer Ukrainians.”
Johnson discussed his years as mayor of London and British foreign secretary, as well as Brexit and Ukraine’s future membership of the European Union. Much of the conversation, however, focused on Russia’s war against Ukraine and what he described as the West’s failure to respond strongly enough to Russian aggression after 2014.
“We should have told Putin what later proved to be true: we would arm Ukraine,” Johnson said. He argued that Western countries should have made clear that further Russian aggression would result in substantial military and financial support for Kyiv.
“The world paid a huge price because we did not do enough to stop this in 2022,” he said.
Johnson praised Ukraine’s resistance and said public support for the country remains strong in Britain, while arguing that Western military and financial assistance is still being delivered too slowly.
“You are fighting for democracy and freedom throughout the world,” he told the audience.
Johnson also called for frozen Russian assets in Europe to be used to support Ukraine, pointing in particular to around €140 billion in Russian assets held in Belgium that he said could be made available to Kyiv.
The former prime minister, who became one of Ukraine’s most prominent international supporters following Russia’s full-scale invasion, said Britain would continue to stand with Ukrainians in their defence against Russian aggression.
