Inside Politics: Ukraine ‘can certainly win’ against Russia, PM says

Boris Johnson says situation is ‘miserable’ but Vladimir Putin is ‘solidifying’ Ukraine as a nation - rather than extinguishing it, writes Ashley Cowburn

(EPA)

As Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine enters its second month, Boris Johnson has used an (extremely) rare interview with BBC Newsnight to suggest Vladimir Putin could be defeated in the Eastern European country. “I think Ukraine can certainly win,” the prime minister insisted, claiming the Russian president was “solidifying” Ukraine as a nation – rather than extinguishing it. However, the PM added that the current situation was “miserable” with Putin attempting to “try to Gronzinfy” the country’s great cities.

In an update on Friday morning, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Ukraine had managed to reoccupy towns and defensive positions up to 21 miles east of the capital, Kyiv. In the south of the country Russian forces, who are looking to drive west to the city of Odessa, their progress is “being slowed by logistic issues and Ukrainian resistance”.

Inside the bubble

From policy correspondent Jon Stone in Brussels

Boris Johnson returned from Brussels on Thursday night after a meeting with Nato allies, but the action in the EU capital is continuing into Friday. Fresh after hosting Joe Biden on Thursday leaders of the 27 member states will hold a working lunch and are expected to discuss the energy crisis and how to reduce reliance on Russian gas. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Council president Charles Michel will give a press conference laying out what the member states have agreed. The UK will not be party to the discussions as it is no longer in the EU, and Boris Johnson was not invited.

Daily briefing

CHEMICAL THREAT: Many newspapers lead on Joe Biden’s ominous warning that Nato “would respond” if Putin deploys chemical weapons in Ukraine — something he also described as a “real threat”. He didn’t specify what the response would entail, however, saying: “The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use”. Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg later said the use of chemical weapons would “totally change the nature of the conflict”, as he raised the prospect of potential contamination from chemical weapons in Nato countries bordering Ukraine. However, Boris Johnson also warned against allowing threats of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons to become a “distraction” from the “savage attack” by conventional means. My colleague Kim Sengupta has more on that with a dispatch from Makariv — a town reclaimed by Ukrainian fighters – with his piece: “Welcome to hell”.

CALL ME BORIS: After the Kremlin’s spin doctor Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the state-owned RIA news agency as saying Boris Johnson is the “most active participant in the race to be anti-Russian”, the prime minister sought to clarify. “I think I’m the only prime minister in UK history to be called Boris, I think I have that distinction, and I’m not remotely anti-Russian,” he declared during a press conference at the Nato summit last night, adding his issue, rather, was with Putin’s “inhuman and barbaric” invasion of Ukraine and the indiscriminate shelling of civilians. On Thursday, the UK outlined new sanctions against Russian billionaires and businesses, as well as the Wagner Group mercenaries which has reportedly been tasked with assassinating the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky. The PM also floated the prospect of targeting Putin’s gold reserves, saying western allies “need to do more” to intensify pressure.

CYBER WARFARE: Last night the UK and western allies linked Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — the successor agency to the KGB — to a “historic global campaign targeting critical national infrastructure”. The Foreign Office said the National Cyber Security Centre was “almost certain” that the FSB’s Centre 16, which it said was also known by its hacker group pseudonyms of Energetic Bear, Berserk Bear and Crouching Yeti, had targeted critical IT systems and national infrastructure in Europe, the Americas and Asia. In The UK, the government said Centre 16 had focused on engineering and industrial control companies, where “hackers may be able to access contact lists of hacked companies and establish long-term access to networks”, and had also targeted energy companies. Foreign secretary Liz Truss said: “Russia’s targeting of critical national infrastructure is calculated and dangerous. It shows Putin is prepared to risk lives to sow division and confusion among allies.”

UNDER PRESSURE: Despite the initial cheers on the Tory backbenches at Rishi Sunak’s promise to cut the base rate of income tax in 2024, the more immediate cost-of-living crisis continues to overshadow the spring statement. Respected think-tanks, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Resolution Foundation, savaged the lack of support for the most vulnerable yesterday, while Tory MPs began sticking their heads above the parapet. The former Conservative work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb said there was more to be done for those on the lowest incomes and Peter Aldous said the announced measures, while welcome, will have a “negligible impact” on the most vulnerable. Appearing to concede the chancellor did not go far enough on Wednesday, the prime minister told reporters: “We need to do more”. During a series of interviews, Mr Sunak himself appeared tetchy at the response to the spring statement, and also hinted the government could intervene ahead of another expected hike in energy bills this autumn.

P&O GRILLING: Opening an extraordinary evidence session with the chief executive of P&O Ferries — after the company sacked 800 workers over a Zoom call — the Labour MP Darren Jones asked Peter Hebblethwaite politely: “Are you in this mess because you don’t what you’re doing, or are you just a shameless criminal”. While the opening salvo, which led to an apology from Hebblethwaite, will certainly go down a memorable burn in the history of parliamentary committees, it was the executive’s admission that the firm broke the law by choosing not to consult over the mass sackings because “no union could accept our proposals” that rightly attracted most attention. But doubts were raised over Boris Johnson’s commitment to take legal action against the firm after the government’s solicitor general Alex Chalk said P&O will face legal proceedings “if the law allows for a prosecution”. Labour has written to the attorney general in a bid to clarify the situation.

The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page.

On the record

“As for Mr Johnson, we see him as the most active participant in the race to be anti-Russian.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

From the Twitterati

“Tory party team bonding latest. Understand Conservative MPs are being invited to a group photo shoot next week ahead of the dinner for all of the parliamentary party...”

... says the Spectator’s Katy Balls on the PM’s get-together

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