LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that every peaceful talks over Ukraine would likely fail, when he compared talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate with crocodiles.
Johnson said dealing with Putin like “Crocodile when it has your legs in his jaw” and said it is very important that the West continues to arm Ukraine.
The Prime Minister spoke when he headed to India, where he would encourage his colleague Narendra Modi to end his neutrality for the war in Ukraine. He played the possibility that India would end his relationship with Russia.
“It is very difficult to see how Ukraine can negotiate with Putin now considering the lack of good faith,” Johnson told reporters. “The strategy, which is proven, is to try to swallow and capture as much as possible from Ukraine which he can and may have some kind of negotiations from the position of strength.”
Johnson said world leaders, including President U.S. Joe Biden, agreed to a call this week that they will continue to supply Ukraine with weapons, including artillery, because Russia intensifies its attacks in the east of Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia have not held a face-to-face peace talks since March 29, and the atmosphere has deteriorated on accusations of Ukraine that Russian forces do atrocities in the city of Bucha near Kyiv. Moscow has denied that claim.
Russia confiscated its first city in East Ukraine as part of a fresh attack this week that Ukrainian officials describe as the Battle of Donbas.
Indian neutrality
Johnson said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told him he was sure to encourage Russian forces from the East Donbas region, but his troops could not reclaim Crimea, who was confiscated by Russia eight years ago.
“The scenery of the President of Ukraine, if I understand it properly, I talked a lot to him, whether he really wants Russian forces to be removed from their position in Donetsk and Luhansk. So it is a pretty maximum position, but on Crimea they are not optimal , “he said.
Putin has explained that he wants to take more Ukrainian regions and can launch a new attack in the country’s capital, Kyiv, Johnson said.
“How can you negotiate with crocodiles when it has your legs in his jaw? That’s the difficulties faced by Ukraine. We just continued to follow the strategy, continuing to supply them with weapons,” he said.
Johnson said when he met PM Modi in New Delhi on Friday, he would encourage India to support Ukraine. But he accepted that India would likely maintain his relationship with Russia.
“I have spoken with Narendra Modi about Ukraine and actually Indians have cursed what happened in Bucha,” he said. “But England in particular must realize that there is a historic relationship that India has with Russia. I think we have to live for it, and show where Putin is, I’m worried, let Russia be bad.”
India, which is the largest buyer in the world of Russian weapons and imports its oil, abstained the UN election condemning the invasion and has not imposed sanctions on Moscow.