Boris Johnson travels to Ukraine for second meeting with Zelensky

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has visited the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv for the second time since Russia’s invasion began. 

Johnson tweeted a photo of himself with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday, saying, “It is good to be in Kyiv again.” Zelensky posted a brief video on Telegram of the two greeting one another.

“Many days of this war have proved that Great Britain’s support for Ukraine is firm and resolute,” the Ukrainian leader said in the post. 

The prime minister’s office said in a press release on Friday that the United Kingdom is offering a program to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days to help Ukrainian forces “scale-up their resistance” to the Russian assault. 

Johnson’s visit follows a trip to Ukraine by four other European leaders, representing France, Italy, Germany and Romania, during which they expressed solidarity and offered additional weapons for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia. 

Following the leaders’ trip, they pledged to back Ukraine’s candidacy to join the European Union. Zelensky said last week that membership in the bloc is vital to Ukrainian security. 

Johnson previously met with Zelensky in Kyiv in April. 

His more recent visit comes as Russian forces seek to close in on the eastern Ukrainian province of Luhansk. Zelensky said earlier this month that the fate of eastern Ukraine is being decided in Severodonetsk, one of the last remaining Ukrainian strongholds in the province. 

President Biden has not yet met in-person with Zelensky amid the ongoing war, though several congressional leaders and Biden administration officials have. First lady Jill Biden made an unannounced visit to western Ukraine last month, meeting with Zelensky and Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska.