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Topics: Ukraine, Boris Johnson, Politics, UK News
Claire Reid
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has compared Ukrainian’s fighting back against the Russia invasion to Brits voting for Brexit. Watch him make the comment here:
Speaking at the Conservative Spring Conference in Blackpool, Johnson said: "I know that it's the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom every time.
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"I can give you a couple of famous recent examples. When the British people voted for Brexit in such large numbers, I don't believe it was that they were remotely hostile to foreigners.
"It's because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself."
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He also used the example of Brits getting vaccinated against the coronavirus, saying: "It was because they wanted to get on with their lives. They were fed up with being told what to do."
He went on to denounce ‘wokeness’ and said ‘talented’ Russians were leaving their country to come and be in the UK.
"We don't need to be woke,” he said.
“We just want to be free, and that's why talented people are fleeing Russia quite frankly right now. That's why they're flocking to the UK.
"That's Putin's tragedy. There's a sense in which his disastrous error in Ukraine is itself an argument for democracy and freedom.
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"Seriously, if Putin had a free press - if he had the BBC on his case - he would have known the truth. Or a version of it."
Johnson’s speech comes just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Russia it’s ‘time to talk’.
He said: “Negotiations about peace, about security for us in Ukraine, should be substantial., fair and without delays. This is the only chance, the only chance for Russia to reduce the harm from its own mistakes.
“We have always insisted on negotiations. We have offered dialogue, offered solutions for peace - not just for 23 days of invasion.
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“And I want everyone to hear me now, especially in Moscow. It’s time to meet. Time to talk. It’s time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia’s losses will be such that it will take you several generations to recover.”
If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information.