Former British PM Johnson calls for UK to send non-combat troops to Ukraine now

Record ID: 2343432

  • Title: Former British PM Johnson calls for UK to send non-combat troops to Ukraine now
  • Date: 22nd February 2026
  • Summary: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - MARCH 23, 2020) (REUTERS) U.S. NAVY HOSPITAL SHIP MERCY IN DOCK SHIP TO TUGBOAT MEDIA AND ARMED FORCES LOOKING AT SHIP ARMED FORCED UNTYING SHIP FROM DOCK NUUK, GREENLAND (RECENT - FEBRUARY 5, 2025) (REUTERS) COLOURED BUILDINGS BY NUUK FJORD WITH SERMITSIAQ IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF COLOURED BUILDINGS BY NUUK FJORD NUUK, GREE
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Boris Johnson Russia Ukraine former Prime Minister war
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ KYIV, UKRAINE 
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ KYIV, UKRAINE 
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe
  • Reuters ID: LVA003748522022026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:    Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on the UK to send non-combat troops to Ukraine now, in an interview aired on Sunday (February 22). 
       “There's no logical reason that I can see why we shouldn't send some peaceful ground forces that to show our support, our constitutional support for free, independent Ukraine,” Johnson told BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg in an exclusive interview. 
        British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed in January a declaration of intent outlining the deployment of forces in the event a peace deal is reached.
         Britain has not said how many troops it would send; Starmer said in January Britain's plans were still being finalised.
       Speaking in the lead up to the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Johnson, who was prime minister at the tim , reflected on the early days of the war.. 
       "We could have solved this problem if we'd been clear about what Ukraine was. We'd continually said to them: 'You can join NATO, you're on the path to the West.'  But we never made good (on) that promise. I think if we'd had clarity and simplicity about Ukraine rather than endless fudge and obscurity, we could have prevented that invasion,” he said.
    (Production: Millie McCaughan)
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