Zelensky Rejects Claims That Boris Johnson Scuppered Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal

Zelensky Rejects Claims That Boris Johnson Scuppered Ukraine-Russia Peace Deal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has described the claims that Boris Johnson played a role in ruining a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine in the spring of 2022 as "illogical." In an interview with The Guardian, he denied these claims, stating, "At no point did I approve any ultimatums from Russia."

Zelensky said, "Johnson had nothing to do with this decision; it doesn’t make sense. How could he have pressured us not to make a peace deal?"

This was Zelensky's first response to the claims, which suggested that during Boris Johnson's visit to Kyiv in April 2022, he had prevented Ukraine from signing a peace agreement with Russia. At the time, peace talks were ongoing between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul, Turkey, and a potential agreement was being discussed. However, Johnson's arrival and his message—"Putin is a war criminal, he must be pressured, not negotiated with"—changed the situation.

In November, David Arakhamia, a member of Zelensky's negotiating team, had said in an interview, "When we returned from Istanbul, Boris Johnson came to Kyiv and said we would not sign anything with them at all, and let's just keep fighting."

However, Zelensky asserted that by the time Johnson arrived, Russian forces had already withdrawn from the outskirts of Kyiv, and the pressure for a peace deal had already diminished. He said, "When Johnson came, we were walking around Kyiv. We had already kicked them out. So, how could he have pressured me?"

Meanwhile, Russian President Putin has used these claims to argue that the West pressured Ukraine to continue the war, saying, "It is very sad that they followed Johnson's orders. As Arakhamia said: ‘We could have ended the military actions a year and a half ago, but the Brits talked us out of it, and we refused.’"

Additionally, Simon Shuster, who wrote a biography of Zelensky, noted that Zelensky had genuinely tried to negotiate an end to the war with Putin in late March 2022. However, the revelation of Russian atrocities in Bucha and other towns made the idea of signing a deal much more difficult.

Zelensky explained, "It was inconsistent at that time; we had just achieved a major military victory, and we wanted to keep fighting. Boris encouraged us, but he wasn’t the only reason behind that decision."