Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine’s former president has deemed Boris Johnson’s comparison of Brexit to the war in Ukraine as insensitive.
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‘How many Britons died because of Brexit?’
During the Conservative Spring conference on Saturday, March 19, Johnson compared Brexit to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Prime Minister said:
It’s the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time.
He then added:
When the British people voted for Brexit in such large, large numbers, I don’t believe it was because they were remotely hostile to foreigners – it’s because they wanted to be free to do things differently and for this country to be able to run itself.
Ukraine’s former president asked the prime minister to ‘please’ not suggest similarities between the war and the vote. He said
How many Britons died because of Brexit?
Zero.
He then told ITV News:
Only today we have 150 Ukrainian children who were killed by Russian soldiers and Russian artillery.
Can I ask you how many houses were destroyed because of Brexit? We have whole cities that have been completely destroyed,
He then added:
With this situation, please, no comparison.
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Johnson isn’t backing down
Despite the backlash the Prime Minister is receiving, he is adamant his comparison wasn’t offensive. Indeed The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK Vadym Prystaiko has defended Johnson telling Sky News:
What we heard in the room, what I heard myself, is that actually, we are fighting for freedom – the freedom to do what the nation wants to do.
A spokesperson for Johnson has said that he refused to withdraw his statement, he isn’t having ‘second thoughts’ and that it is a legitimate comparison as both have a ‘desire for freedom’.
