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BORIS JOHNSON: The Kremlin’s ‘terroristic’ attacks on Ukraine will not work… now we must give Kyiv better air defences – and fast
Boris Johnson argues that Russia's escalating missile attacks on Ukraine's railways, including passenger trains, are a sign of desperation rather than strength, as Vladimir Putin struggles with mounting battlefield losses and stalled territorial gains after four and a half years of war. He contends that Western allies must respond by urgently supplying Ukraine with better air defences to protect civilians and infrastructure, arguing this is the only way to convince Putin he cannot win.
Johnson cites Russian losses of over 40,000 men killed or wounded in each of July and August alone, and 1.5 million total since the war began, alongside signs of domestic strain including fuel shortages and refinery damage from Ukrainian drone strikes. He highlights that Ukraine's railway operator, Ukrzaliznytsia, has lost 1,700 employees to attacks but continues to rebuild rapidly, and points to Ukrainian firm Firepoint, maker of the Flamingo cruise missile, as evidence of Kyiv's growing capability that now needs to be matched with stronger defensive systems against Russian ballistic missiles and jet-powered Shahed drones.
In short
- Johnson says Russia's rail attacks reflect desperation, not strength
- Russia reportedly lost 40,000+ men monthly in July and August
- He urges allies to fast-track better air defences for Ukraine
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advocates of urgently boosting Ukraine's air defences argue that protecting civilians and critical infrastructure from missile and drone strikes is both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity, since sparing Kyiv's cities and railways sustains the country's ability to keep fighting and functioning. They contend that Russia's mounting casualties and economic strain show the war of attrition is grinding against Moscow, so denying the Kremlin the ability to terrorise the population from the air removes its last lever of pressure and hastens a settlement on fairer terms. For this camp, continued Western support upholds a broader principle that aggression against a sovereign state must not be allowed to succeed, and that abandoning Ukraine now would squander the sacrifices already made and embolden further aggression elsewhere.
The case against
Sceptics of an open-ended escalation in military aid argue that pouring more advanced air-defence systems into the conflict risks deepening NATO's direct entanglement and could provoke unpredictable Russian responses, without a clear theory of how this ends the war rather than merely prolonging it. They point to the immense human cost on both sides and argue that resources devoted to sustaining a stalemate might be better directed towards pressing for a negotiated settlement, however imperfect, that stops the killing sooner. This view also cautions against relying heavily on casualty figures and narratives of imminent Russian collapse supplied by one side of the conflict, and questions whether Western nations can sustainably fund and supply such systems indefinitely given competing domestic priorities and finite defence stockpiles.
Explained simply
Russia and Ukraine have been at war since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and the fighting has now stretched on for more than four and a half years with no end in sight. In recent months, Russia has stepped up long-range missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, including railways used by both passengers and freight, prompting debate among Ukraine's Western backers about whether enough is being done to help Ukraine defend its skies.
Boris Johnson, the former UK prime minister, has remained a prominent and vocal supporter of Ukraine since leaving office, frequently writing and speaking about the war. Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, ordered the 2022 invasion and remains the central figure directing Russia's war effort, while Ukraine is led by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Western governments, including the UK and its NATO allies, have supplied Ukraine with weapons and air defence systems throughout the conflict, though the scale and speed of that support has been a recurring point of discussion.
This matters because the war's outcome affects European security more broadly, and the debate over air defences touches on wider questions about how far Western countries should go in arming Ukraine, what it would take to end the fighting, and how the human and economic costs on both sides are being felt after years of sustained conflict.
Europe Russia-Ukraine War World