British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that the United Kingdom would send 100 million pounds (over 45 billion forints) of defense arms shipments to Ukraine.
Johnson, who received German Chancellor Olaf Schultz in Downing Street, said at a joint press conference that the shipment would again include a Starstreak portable anti-aircraft missile system, which London had already delivered to Ukraine.
According to the British Prime Minister, these missiles fly at three times the speed of sound.
The UK also supplies 800 anti-tank missiles, along with other precision missile weapons.
Boris Johnson noted that at the British government’s virtual donors’ conference last week, participants pledged to deliver 1.5 million pounds of weapons – a total of 2.5 million units of military equipment – to Ukraine.
Olaf Schultz said at a press conference in Downing Street Friday evening that the German government has set a target to end imports of Russian crude oil later this year.
According to the chancellor, Germany is “actively” seeking to achieve complete independence from Russian crude oil, “and we believe we will be able to achieve this later this year.”
Schulz added that the German government is also working to end its dependence on Russian natural gas imports. However, he stressed, “it is not that easy” as the necessary infrastructure must be built first.
According to Schulz, for example, a pipeline system must be built off the northern coast of Germany, and port terminals must be established to receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships and unload, divert and feed LNG into the German pipeline system.
The chancellor said Germany is investing heavily in expanding the use of renewable energy sources, but will still need to import fossil fuels for years to come.
In this case, the most important task is the ability to obtain these fossil energy sources from suppliers outside Russia, said the German prime minister. He added that Berlin was working “hard” to achieve this.
Boris Johnson said at the press conference that he knows this is not an easy task and acknowledges the “seismic scale” decision taken by the German government to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies.
The British prime minister put it this way: the Europe that everyone knew just six weeks ago no longer exists, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine is also an attack on the continent’s security foundations.
At the same time, according to Johnson, Putin’s efforts to divide European countries spectacularly failed, and the opposite happened, as the Russian head of state was able to unite Europe and the entire transatlantic federal system by invading Ukraine.
(Featured photo: Boris Johnson addresses the British House of Representatives in London on February 23, 2022. Photo: Jessica Taylor/British Parliament/AFP)
