Boris deserves credit for his Ukraine response

Boris Johnson’s visit to Kyiv is notable not only for its unannounced nature but for the additional package of support for Ukraine it has heralded. The Prime Minister pledged 120 armoured vehicles, new anti-ship missile technology, and a further £385 million in World Bank lending. The government will also permit tariff-free imports of Ukrainian goods to the UK, something requested by Volodymyr Zelensky.

The announcement followed on the heels of extra military hardware, set out yesterday, which included anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, as well as precision-strike kamikaze drones. That package totalled £100 million and is additional to the £394 million in grant aid to fund humanitarian services. Today’s package takes Britain’s overall loan guarantee for Ukraine to roughly three-quarters of a billion pounds.

While domestic criticism has focused on the sluggish pace of the Home Office’s processing of refugees, the redoubled assistance to Zelensky’s government underscores the two fronts on which the UK’s response has been mostly sound: hardware and financial backing.