BORIS JOHNSON: The West must get Ukraine into Nato as fast as we can

So what were they afraid of? When NATO leaders came to Vilnius this week, it was clear what they had to do.

They had to be strong. That’s the whole point of NATO. They had to show that they were in no way intimidated by Vladimir Putin and the sabre-rattling ghost of the Kremlin.

They had to show that NATO countries recognize the immensity of the Ukrainian sacrifice and the obligations it imposes on us in the West – and they had to come up with an appropriate response.

For more than 500 days, the Ukrainians have been resisting the Russian attack, a war they have done nothing – repeat Nothing – to provoke.

Their cities have been indiscriminately bombed, their women raped, their children abducted, and in Crimea there are camps where male prisoners of war are systematically castrated.

More than 100,000 Ukrainian troops are said to have lost their lives, along with countless civilians, and ten million Ukrainians have been displaced.

It was up to NATO leaders this week to show their collective respect and gratitude for Ukraine’s heroic resistance in a battle in which not a single NATO soldier has been injured or killed, because we in NATO countries know – and constantly say – that the Ukrainians fight for all of us.

Their fight is for freedom and democracy everywhere: for Eastern Europe, for the Baltic states, for all the peoples around the world who can be bullied or invaded by an overly powerful neighbor. That is why we owed the Ukrainians clarity about their future this week.

It was up to NATO leaders to firmly demonstrate their belief in the founding principle of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – the most successful military alliance in history.

We should have made it clear once and for all that it is for a sovereign people to decide which organizations to join, and that no non-member can veto or stop them.

No country has done more or tried harder than Ukraine to demonstrate its fitness for NATO membership. No force is more terrifying or more effective in its use of NATO weapons.

No country needs NATO membership anymore. All the Alliance had to do was set a timetable – not for immediate membership; that is of no use as long as the war is going on – but for membership once victory is achieved.

All we needed were words that accession could begin as soon as the war was over, with the understanding that it could be as early as next year.

It would have been the right message for those brave Ukrainians now fighting for their lives – like struggling swimmers who suddenly realize the safety of the coast.

It would have been the right message for Putin to make it absolutely clear that there is only one way to end his disastrous misadventure. That was what NATO had to say in the Lithuanian capital this week – and what did we get in return?

I am sorry to say that the conclusions of Vilnius are no firmer or more convincing than NATO’s 2008 conclusions in Bucharest, which states – in paragraph 23 to be precise – “we have agreed that these countries (Ukraine and Georgia) become a member of NATO”. .

That was 15 years ago, when Gordon Brown was still prime minister, and when Putin had yet to carry out his violent and revanchist plan to rebuild the Soviet empire.

All the Ukrainians received this week was an “invitation” to join NATO, “when the allies agree and the conditions are met.” No wonder President Zelensky initially found it difficult to hide his frustration.

When allies agree? When are the conditions met? According to the Bucharest conclusions, the Allies agreed on this 15 years ago!

When will we learn the lesson of dealing with Putin over the past 20 years? It is precisely our ambiguity, our hesitation, our sucking and blowing at the same time, that prompted him to invade. As long as he thinks there’s a chance he can wring Ukraine back into Moscow’s orbit—as long as he thinks he can recreate the Soviet Union—he’ll try.

As long as he thinks he can get away with violence against Ukraine and others, he will use violence. As long as Ukraine does not have the formal security guarantees of Article 5 of NATO guaranteeing the collective defense of all members, Putin will continue to commit murder and mayhem – and destabilize the world and its economy.

That is why we in NATO need to draw up a timetable as soon as possible. I know this is the ambition of the British government and I know how hard Britain has campaigned behind the scenes. The reluctance is not in London; far from it.

The problem is that there are still some of our friends and partners who think that this war can only end with a negotiated solution. They think we should be cleverly ambiguous now – because they think the issue of Ukraine’s NATO membership could be part of the deal after all.

You could make a deal with Putin, they think: you get your troops out and we keep Ukraine out of NATO.

That’s madness. Throughout this war, there has been a Western tendency to make the same mistake over and over again: overestimating Putin and underestimating Ukraine.

The Ukrainians are going to win. They deserve to win. They fight like lions and the evidence is growing that they will succeed.

Look at Putin’s position. It was only three weeks ago that Yevgeny Prigozhin – founder of the Wagner Group and seen as his loyal and loyal mastiff until now – suddenly turned on his master and sent his troops to Moscow.

Some are now saying that the “mutiny” was all a devious ploy by Putin, just to show that Russia could be even more chaotic with other people in charge. What nonsense.

This was no masquerade. This was almost anarchy – the Wagner Group actually shot down Russian helicopters and actually killed Russian soldiers.

And in the aftermath, Sergei Surovikin, the hard-nosed general who used to command Russia’s invasion forces, has suddenly disappeared on suspicion of sympathy for the coup attempt.

Another dismissed general, Ivan Popov, accuses Putin of beheading the army. You can see what is happening. The Russian military knows they are facing defeat and humiliation in Ukraine, and they are preparing their dolchstoss legend – their stab-in-the-back myth – to explain how they were betrayed and abandoned by incompetent politicians .

Yes, it will take some time for the Ukrainians to break through the Vietcong-style dugouts the Russians have dug and booby-trapped in the conquered territories. We need to be patient. We must show strategic restraint.

We need to give the Ukrainians the air cover – the F-16 fighter jets – to pull it off.

But they will, and once they do, there is only one way to ensure that such an invasion never happens again, to settle once and for all the question of Ukraine’s political identity and orientation – for the stability of Ukraine and Russia, and the world.

It has worked for the Balts. It has worked for Eastern Europe. It is now the only way forward for Ukraine. It’s time to be strong, end the corny procrastination – and get Ukraine into NATO as soon as possible.

Dictionary corner

* Leal: Loyal and true, as if you were loyal to your King