Johnson arrives in Kiev for talks on security, military cooperation
The UK prime minister is expected to hold talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba
MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday arrived in Kiev for talks on security and military cooperation, according to Ukraina 24 television.
The prime minister is expected to hold talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. The key issues for discussion are security, de-escalation and military cooperation, according to Sergey Nikiforov, the president’s press secretary.
During the visit, Ukraine, Britain and Poland were expected to announce the creation of a new format of their cooperation, but it was postponed indefinitely as British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss contracted the coronavirus before her visit to Kiev. Kuleba said on Tuesday the announcement was postponed to a later date.
There has been a flurry of statements in the West and Kiev lately that Russia could invade Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they were unsubstantiated escalation and that Russia doesn’t threaten anyone. At the same time, he didn’t rule out provocations to corroborate these Western statements and warned that the use of force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine will have serious consequences.