The former mayor of London and now UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson met Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko in the Ukrainian capital on March 1 as the British minister continued a morale-boosting visit to Ukraine.
Johnson and Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski arrived in Kyiv on Feb. 28 to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between both the UK and Poland with Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both ministers will stay in Ukraine until March 2.
The two ministers also brought a message of support for Ukraine, which has been battling Russian aggression for three years.
“The UK and Poland fully support Ukraine’s sovereignty. Crimea is Ukraine and Russia must return it,” read an official statement by U.K. government regarding the foreign secretary’s visit.
Johnson himself wrote on Twitter on March 1 that the aim of his visit was “to show Ukraine we are 100 percent behind them, against Russian aggression.”
Johnson and Klitschko met the visiting ministers in the popular Pizza Veterano cafe, which was founded by Ukrainian war veterans in 2015. Leonid Ostaltsev, one of the founders of Pizza Veterano, shared online a selfie with the British minister and Kyiv mayor, adding that Johnson, ahead of his official meeting with Klitschko, had talked with him about Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine.
Klitschko’s press secretary Oksana Zinovieva told the Kyiv Post that Johnson and the Kyiv mayor had discussed the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Kyiv in May. According to Klitschko’s official website, Kyiv’s mayor urged Johnson to increase the number of OSCE monitors in eastern Ukraine.
Klitschko guided Johnson around some popular tourist attractions in the heart of Kyiv, such as St. Sophia’s Cathedral and Sophia’s Square. Johnson also took photos with officers from Kyiv’s new western-style patrol police, and recorded a video-invitation for Eurovision 2017.
Johnson and Waszczykowski are scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Deputy Prime Minister Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.
Klimkin, Johnson and Waszczykowski will hold a joint press conference at 3.40 p.m. on March 1 to discuss the war in the eastern Ukraine, human rights violations in annexed Crimea, EU-Ukraine relations and ongoing reform process.
Waszczykowski said in a statement before the visit that Poland was the first country to recognize Ukraine’s independence, and that Warsaw still supports “Ukraine’s European choice, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
