Johnson to hail Ukraine’s ‘finest hour’ in address to Kyiv parliament

The PM will use his speech by video link to set out a new £300 million support package for the Ukrainian armed forces.

Boris Johnson will hail the  resistance of Ukrainians in the face of the brutal Russian invasion as their “finest hour” when he delivers an address to the country’s parliament.

Speaking by video link, the Prime Minister will use a speech to the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday to set out details of a new £300 million package of military support for the government in Kyiv.

Downing Street said it will include electronic warfare equipment, a counter battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night vision devices, as Russia’s offensive in the Donbas region continues.

This is Ukraine’s finest hour, an epic chapter in your national story that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

It follows Mr Johnson’s unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital last month, in a show of support and solidarity with president Volodymyr Zelensky.

In his address, the Prime Minister will echo the words of Winston Churchill to the British people during the Second World War, as Mr Zelensky did when he spoke to the Westminster Parliament in March.

“When my country faced the threat of invasion during the Second World War, our Parliament, like yours, continued to meet throughout the conflict, and the British people showed such unity and resolve that we remember our time of greatest peril as our finest hour,” Mr Johnson is expected to say.

“This is Ukraine’s finest hour, an epic chapter in your national story that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come.

“Your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.”

The latest military support package comes after ministers updated Parliament last week on plans to send sophisticated long-range Brimstone missiles and Stormer air defence vehicles.

In addition, the UK is to supply heavy lift aerial drones to provide logistical support to Ukrainian forces which have become isolated.

Downing Street said it is also sending  more than a dozen new specialised Toyota Land Cruisers to  protect civilian officials in eastern Ukraine and to evacuate civilians from frontline areas, following a request from the Ukrainian government.