Ukrainian ambassador reacts to Boris Johnson’s comments on Brexit and Ukraine

The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has said he “didn’t see” the furious reaction to Boris Johnson’s apparent comparison of Brexit to Ukraine’s fight for freedom coming.

Vadym Prystaiko said he was in the room when the comment was made and was not expecting the backlash it has received.

Instead, he said “what I heard myself” is that both the UK and Ukraine wanted the freedom to leave different unions.

It comes as other ministers have stepped in to defend the Prime Minister and say the comment he made has been misinterpreted.

Mr Prystaiko told Sky News on Wednesday: “I was sitting in the front row when I listened to it.

“I didn’t see this reaction coming. Because 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.

“If you wanted to leave the European Union that’s your own sovereign decision. We respected it. We would like you to be in the European Union, but we respect this decision.”

However, he added that the UK’s problems with the EU were incomparable to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“If we wanted to leave something like the Soviet Union, we had to have the right, and look at the differences”, he continued.

“You believe you have problems with the European Union when you left, it’s not a problem.

“If you compare it to what we have with Russians when we left the Soviet Union, they came to kill us for this decision.”

Boris Johnson sparked outrage at the weekend by comparing the struggle of Ukrainians fighting the Russian invasion to British people voting for Brexit.

In his speech to the Tory spring conference in Blackpool, Mr Johnson said it is the “instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom”, with the Brexit vote a “famous recent example”.

The comparison attracted criticism from Tory peer Lord Barwell, who pointed out Ukraine is seeking to join the European Union.

Former European Council president, Donald Tusk, said the Prime Minister’s words “offend Ukrainians, the British and common sense”.

In his speech, Mr Johnson said: “I know that it’s the instinct of the people of this country, like the people of Ukraine, to choose freedom, every time.

“I can give you a couple of famous recent examples.

“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.”

The other example given by the Prime Minister was the British people’s willingness to voluntarily get vaccinated against Covid-19 because they “wanted to get on with their lives” and “were fed up with being told what to do by people like me”.

The Ukraine invasion has entered its 28th day.

Nearly 3.5 million Ukrainians have now fled the country since February 24, the United Nations said earlier this week.