Boris Johnson has said Ukraine should be accepted into NATO “as fast as possible,” and that Russia’s full-scale invasion is all the evidence needed to show non-membership for Kyiv has been a “disaster.”

Speaking at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES), the former British prime minister, said: “Membership in NATO is a massive psychological support for a country and a massive deterrent to anybody who would seek to attack that country. 

“NATO works, it's proved that it works.”

Johnson said that President Putin’s invasion demolished any argument about not accepting Ukraine into NATO based on a fear of escalating a conflict between Russia and the West.

“That argument doesn't look very good these days,” he said. “Look what he did without Ukraine in NATO. 

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“We've tried not having Ukraine in NATO. It's led to the worst war in Europe for 80 years, hundreds of thousands of people dead. It's a disaster.”

“The only answer is to get Ukraine in NATO as fast as possible.”

Johnson also supports Ukraine's peace plan, recently presented by Ukraine to Saudi Arabia. He said that “if there's a way of doing some sort of peaceful solution, then of course that should be done.”

He added: “But I don't think that that is possible with Vladimir Putin. You know Prigozhin had to deal with Vladimir Putin and that didn't work very well for him, right?”

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Blinken in Brussels as Trump Win Raises Alarm Over Ukraine

The trip comes as Trump’s election victory, coupled with a political crisis in Germany, heightens fears about the future of assistance for Ukraine at a key point in the fight against Russia’s invasion

The politician called on the West to act faster and accelerate economic pressure on Russia. 

“I've come to the conclusion that the Russian state assets that are currently frozen, the $300 billion worth in the Cayman Islands or the US or wherever it's crazy they should go back to Putin at the end of this. They clearly need to be used to rebuild Ukraine.”

Johnson also called for the acceleration of more weapons for Ukraine.

“I do not know why we are delaying. We always end up giving what is needed, but we do it for months,” he said. “Let's just accelerate, cut to the chase, give Ukraine what they need to win as fast as possible”.

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