Boris Johnson Arrives in Kiev Again, This Time With New Military Aid Package for Zelensky

Dogged by a series of domestic political calamities, an inflation and fuel crunch, and cost of living crisis at home, the prime minister has made a habit of traveling to Eastern Europe in recent months to try his hand as geopolitical chessmaster.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrived in Kiev on Wednesday to personally congratulate President Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine's independence day, bringing along £54 million ($63 million) in fresh military assistance, including 850 Black Hornet microdrones as part of a package of 2,000 UAVs and loitering munitions.

"What happens in Ukraine matters to us all. That is why I am in Kiev today. That is why the UK will continue to stand with our Ukrainian friends. I believe Ukraine can and will win this war," Johnson tweeted.

What happens in Ukraine matters to us all.

That is why I am in Kyiv today.

That is why the UK will continue to stand with our Ukrainian friends.

I believe Ukraine can and will win this war. pic.twitter.com/FIovnqJGTS

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) August 24, 2022

Media swarmed Johnson and Zelensky as they walked down the streets of the capital, flanked by troops in full combat gear carrying assault rifles.

⚡️⚡️⚡️Борис Джонсон на Хрещатику. Відео кореспондентки DW. pic.twitter.com/F0OuG7gQUk

— DW українською (@dw_ukrainian) August 24, 2022

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was spotted walking in central Kyiv along with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Aug. 24.

Johnson's visit wasn't announced.

Ukraine marks 31st Independence Day and exactly six months of Russia's all-out war on Aug. 24.

📷Kostyantyn Chernichkin pic.twitter.com/ksLJJqvNmT

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 24, 2022

Symbolically, the walking tour included a pass by the Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Ukrainian for "Independence Square"), the site where tens of thousands of pro-European Union demonstrators gathered in late 2013 and early 2014 to protest the decision by the government of then-President Viktor Yanukovych to scrap plans to sign an association agreement with the EU in favor of closer economic ties with Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. The demonstrations turned deadly in February, with dozens of protesters and police officers killed by mysterious snipers, and Yanukovych ultimately overthrown in a coup d'etat orchestrated by Washington and Brussels, giving rise to the Ukrainian crisis and sparking a civil war in Donbass.

The UK has played a highly active role in training Ukrainian forces for the Donbass conflict, and has committed several billion pounds in military and economic assistance since February and the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. The assistance has included the training of over 22,000 Ukrainian troops via "Operation Orbital" since 2015, intelligence support, the delivery of thousands of Javelin and NLAW anti-tank missiles, Starstreak man-portable air defense systems, and other lethal and non-lethal military aid. Britain has also played a key secondary role in equipping Ukraine with heavy artillery, sending M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, used M109 howitzers, and L119 artillery guns. Britain's BAE Systems is also the manufacturer of M777 towed guns, with the US and its NATO allies sending more than a hundred of the 155mm systems to Ukraine over the past six months.

Johnson's Wednesday trip to Kiev is his latest foray to the Eastern European country amid the security crisis, with the prime minister visiting on June 17, and in early April. The prime minister also traveled to the country on February 1, just weeks before Russia kicked off its special operation.

Johnson's travels come at a difficult time for him domestically, with his approval rating slipping to 22-23 percent in polling by Opinium and YouGov in late June and early July, and the prime minister forced to resign on July 7 after the latest of his government's many internal scandals finally caught up with him. He is now serving as interim PM, with the next general election expected no later than January 2025.