Zelenskyy, Boris Johnson hold joint press conference
After meeting in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a joint press conference, telling reporters Russian forces are expected to intensify pressure in Donbas and in the east.
"What Putin has done in places like Bucha and in Irpin his war crimes, have permanently polluted his reputation and the reputation of his of his government," Johnson said.
He added, "It's clear that what he's doing now, he has suffered a reverse, but his retreat is tactical, and he's going to intensify the pressure now in Donbass and in the East."
Zelenskyy praising the U.K.'s sanctions, called for increased pressure on Russia and a boycott of Russian energy.
"The other democratic Western countries should follow the example of the United Kingdom. It's time to impose a complete embargo on Russian energy resources, which they should increase the amount of weapons being supplied," Zelenskyy said.
Johnson warned that the U.K. and its partners are going to increase economic pressure and will move away from the use of Russian hydrocarbons.
"The defense intelligence that we had suggested that the Russians believed that Ukraine could be engulfed in a matter of days and that Kyiv would fall in hours to them to their armies, and how wrong they were," Johnson said.
"And I think that the Ukrainians have shown the courage of a lion, but you, Vladimir, have given the roar of that lion," he added.
Johnson later said, "what this war is certainly producing is a clarity about the vision of a future for Ukraine, where, together with friends and partners, we, the U.K. and others supply the equipment, the technology, the intelligence so that Ukraine will never be invaded again. So that Ukraine is so fortified and so protected that Ukraine can never be bullied again, never be blackmailed again, never be threatened in the same way again."
