Boris Johnson Makes Second Surprise Visit to Kyiv

On Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made his second surprise visit to Kyiv for a meeting with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Johnson was supposed to make an appearance in a major conference in Doncaster as a speech for the Prime Minister was scheduled before he was pulled out the event.

He shortly tweeted: "Mr President, Volodymyr, It is good to be in Kyiv again."

A message posted on Zelenskyy's Telegram account said: "Many days of this war have proved that Great Britain's support for Ukraine is firm and resolute."

He added: "Glad to see our country's great friend Boris Johnson in Kyiv again."

Both leaders held a meeting to discuss Ukraine's strong resistance against Russia and to "offer a major training programme for Ukrainian forces "to help sustain their heroic defence."

The Ukrainian government said that the Uk's program dedicated to the country includes training up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days and will back both new and existing Ukrainian soldiers, in addition to backing Ukraine with the required weapons and defense devices.

It is worthy to mention that France, German, and Italian leaders took a private train headed to Kyiv on Thursday, according to Italian and German media.

According to reports, French President Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi took a night train headed to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv today, Thursday.

The German and Italian channels, “ZDF” and “La Repubblica” reported that the three leaders to this private train from Poland and they expected to arrive in Kyiv in the morning, today.

The Italian newspaper published pictures of the three leaders on the train, according to AFP.

The French Presidency confirmed that Macron is on his way to Ukraine today, Thursday, according to Reuters.

It took weeks to prepare for this visit, and the European leaders are looking forward to mitigating criticism within Ukraine over their response to the war.

Kyiv has criticized France, Germany, and Italy for hesitating to support Ukraine, and accused them of being slow in providing weapons, and putting their own interests above the freedom and security of Ukraine.

Previously, the German newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” announced that Scholz, Macron, and Draghi would visit Kyiv this month.

According to the paper, the joint visit is France’s idea, and Macron preferred to postpone it until the parliamentary elections in his country end, especially since Scholz highlighted that the visit should come for something tangible, not for taking a picture.