Boris Johnson has vowed a ‘new Marshall Plan’ to rebuild Ukraine in the aftermath of Vladimir Putin’s brutal war, after Volodymyr Zelensky invoked Churchill in a defiant and emotional address to British MPs in which he repeated his plea for a no-fly zone.
Speaking to reporters in Lancaster House on Tuesday night, Britain’s prime minister promised to ‘protect’ and ‘restore’ Ukraine’s freedom, sovereignty and independence as he warned: ‘The level of disgust and outrage at what is happening in Ukraine is mounting around the world and the noose is tightening on the Putin regime.’
He also declared his intention to implement a ‘new Marshall Plan’ after the war, in reference to the post-1945 American effort to revive the economies of Western Europe and create a bulwark against Stalin’s expansionist USSR following the defeat of Hitler’s armies.
But MPs have voiced concerns that Britain’s rhetoric, including its strong condemnation of Putin’s invasion last month, is not being matched by its practical efforts to assist Kyiv economically and militarily as Russian missiles rain down on civilian areas in Ukraine.
Following Zelensky’s historic speech to the House of Commons, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson warned: ‘We commend President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine and we stand with them in this their time of strife, but our response will not be judged by the volume or strength of our applause for President Zelensky. It will be judged by the volume and strength of our response to his request for help – for practical military support and for humanitarian assistance for the people of Ukraine.
‘We pray for their success. We dare not let them down.’
In a powerful address that was greeted before and after by standing ovations, Ukraine’s comic-turned-wartime president Zelensky channelled Churchill’s ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ speech and begged Britain to ‘make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe’.
It came shortly after Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng announced the UK will phase out the import of Russian oil and oil products by the end of the year as part of a ratcheting up of sanctions on Moscow for the attack, which was launched on February 24.
Elsewhere, there has been frustration at the slow progress in processing Ukrainian refugees, with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace offering military support to the Home Office to help deal with the backlog of people trying to get into the UK.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused ministers of moving ‘too slowly’ in banning Russian oil imports over the invasion of Ukraine, while several experts cast doubt over how effective such sanctions will be. Labour welcomed the Government’s move as ‘the right decision’, but called for further action to tackle the cost of living crisis and to move towards clean energy.
Sir Ed said: ‘The Conservatives are once again moving far too slowly to punish Putin for his illegal invasion of Ukraine. It’s not good enough to only ban Russian oil, there must be a ban on Russian gas too.’
Boris Johnson has vowed a ‘new Marshall Plan’ to rebuild Ukraine in the aftermath of Vladimir Putin’s brutal war, after Volodymyr Zelensky invoked Churchill in an emotional address to British MPs
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the House of Commons, March 8, 2022
In this photo provided by UK Parliament, Boris Johnson and lawmakers applaud as Zelensky is displayed on a screen and addresses the House of Commons in London, March 8, 2022
Firefighters in Kyiv try to extinguish a fire after a chemical warehouse was hit by Russian shelling on the eastern frontline near Kalynivka village, March 8, 2022
A joint funeral takes place at ‘Saint’s Peter and Paul Garrison Church’ in Lviv for two soldiers who died in the east of the country during recent fighting, March 8, 2022
Russia has now committed all of the forces it massed on the Ukrainian border before the invasion, and has made only limited territorial gains – capturing just one major city, Kherson. Others, including Sumy and Kyiv, are slowly being surrounded but in some places the Ukrainians have managed to thwart Russian attacks or successfully counter-attack
He said the invasion of Ukraine highlighted how Europe was ‘too dependent’ on Russia and that the continent needs to invest in renewables to ‘end Europe’s addiction to Russian fossil fuels’.
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy tweeted: ‘It’s right that the UK will phase out imports of Russian oil. We need to do everything possible to cut the Putin, his cronies and the rogue Russian regime out of our economic system.’
Speaking to broadcasters in London, Johnson accepted the decision to target Moscow’s oil would not hit the Kremlin’s regime immediately, with Ukraine continuing to face assault, but said it would add to the ‘extreme’ sanctions already levied.
The UK imported goods from Russia worth a total of £10.3billion in 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This was the equivalent of 2 per cent of the total value of all imported goods from around the world.
No UK petrol demand comes from Russia, nor heating or fuel oil but 18 per cent of the total demand for diesel comes from Russia, according to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Tom Keatinge, director of the RUSI Centre for financial crime and security studies, told the Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday that unless the EU imposed similar sanctions on Russia, UK and US sanctions could merely push up prices.
He said: ‘Someone pointed out to me yesterday that the rate at which commodity prices are rising at the moment, actually, Russia could sell a lot less but still earn just as much money.’
Justine Walker, global head of sanctions, compliance and risk at the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, said: ‘If we’re to target oil, then I think there needs to be a much broader consensus.
‘If you just have the US targeting oil or the UK targeting oil, then you are, as Tom says, you’re just going to drive up prices and actually will not be effective.’
Asked if this meant there was no point in imposing the sanctions without a broader international consensus from other players like the EU, Keatinge said: ‘I think we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact, price is obviously a function of supply and demand.
‘So what are we doing to work with suppliers to replace the capacity that gets lost from Russia – but clearly the EU needs to buy into that strategy.’
Dr Chi Kong Chyong from the Energy Policy Research Group at Cambridge Judge Business School warned that stopping the flow of Russian oil and gas into Europe may not be the ‘hammer blow’ that Western countries are looking for.
In an article published to the University of Cambridge website on Tuesday, he said: ‘Europe is part of a global, increasingly commoditised market, in which trade embargoes by one region will not be effective if others don’t follow.’
During his address to the Commons, Zelensky – who is said to have to keep his whereabouts a secret due to the threat of assassination in Kyiv – appealed to MPs by quoting from Shakespeare and paraphrasing Churchill.
In a nod to one of the former British prime minister’s most inspiring speeches of the war, Zelensky said: ‘We will fight until the end, at sea, in the air. We will continue fighting for our land, whatever the cost. We will fight in the forest, in the fields, on the shores, in the streets.’
He also pressed home the desire of Ukrainians for their independence to continue, despite their homeland being under attack by Kremlin forces, with a line from Hamlet.
A couple hug under the destroyed bridge as civilians continue to flee from Irpin, March 8, 2022
Members of the Ukrainian military arrive to reinforce a forward position near Kalynivka village, March 8, 2022
A view from a damaged civil settlement after shelling in Donetsk, March 8, 2022
A view from a damaged civil settlement after shelling in Donetsk, March 8, 2022
A view from a damaged civil settlement after shelling in Donetsk, March 8, 2022
This Maxar satellite image taken and released on March 8, 2022, shows a closer view of armored vehicles moving northeast of Antonov Airport in Hostomel, Ukraine
‘The question for us now is to be or not to be,’ he said, in a translation by Parliament TV. ‘Oh no, this Shakespearean question. For 13 days this question could have been asked but now I can give you a definitive answer. It’s definitely yes, to be.’
The embattled president said Ukraine faced a similar dilemma to the one Britain encountered in the Second World War.
He said the current conflict, in which he said 50 children had been killed, was akin to when Britain ‘didn’t want to lose your country when the Nazis started to fight your country and you had to fight’.
Johnson, who received a personal thanks from Zelensky for his support, told the Commons after the speech that ‘never before in all our centuries of our parliamentary democracy has the House listened to such an address’.
‘In a great European capital now within range of Russian guns, President Volodymyr Zelensky is standing firm for democracy and for freedom,’ Johnson said.
Speaking in Washington, President Joe Biden said the US joining in with the phased oil prohibition would be a ‘powerful blow’ to Putin’s war.
But he warned Americans that the sanction would have ripple effects at home, telling them that ‘defending freedom is going to cost’ after Brent crude rose 7 per cent to 131.95 dollars per barrel on Tuesday after media reports surfaced about the ban. A year ago, Brent was trading at around 61 dollars per barrel.
The Prime Minister suggested that diesel prices could be set to rise further in Britain after the announcement, with prices at the forecourts already having soared following Moscow’s attack on Kyiv, but predicted the decision ‘won’t affect’ domestic businesses.
During talks at Lancaster House, Downing Street said Johnson and his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala agreed to work with European allies to ensure Russia can ‘no longer control energy supplies’, in a sign of a further push to come on blocking the Kremlin’s oil sales.
The Prime Minister met with Fiala as part of discussions with the Visegrad group of countries, which also includes Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.
The V4 have received some of the most refugees since the conflict in Ukraine broke out, but the UK Government has faced flak, including from Conservative MPs, for the lack of visas it has so far handed out to those fleeing.
Home Office minister Kevin Foster said in the Commons that the figure for visas issued had risen to more than 500 – up from 300 on Monday night – while a new processing centre at Lille is expected to be set up within the next 24 hours.
The Prime Minister, speaking after his leaders meeting, said the numbers of refugees being accepted could run into the ‘hundreds of thousands’ via what he called a ‘very generous programme’.
Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it is now a criminal offence for any Russian planes to enter UK airspace, after a ban was previously announced.
Shapps wrote to airports saying he can order them to detain Russian aircraft and has the power to order the Civil Aviation Authority to terminate registration of planes owned by sanctioned individuals.
‘We will suffocate Putin’s cronies’ ability to continue living as normal while thousands of innocent people die,’ he tweeted.