Blaming Ukraine for Russian invasion is like accusing swimmers of attacking the shark – Boris Johnson

LONDON – Blaming Ukraine for the Russian invasion is like accusing swimmers of attacking the shark in Jaws, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told UK phone-in and talk radio station LBC.

Johnson was responding to controversial comments made by US president Donald Trump calling Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” and that he should “never have started” the war, despite Russia invading Ukraine.

Zelensky responded by saying the US president was “living in a disinformation space” created by Russia.

Speaking in Kyiv on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion, Johnson who was British PM when the war began, said the language around Ukraine being responsible for the war was “emetic.”

“You might as well say that the swimmers were responsible for attacking the shark in Jaws or the United States were responsible for attacking Japan at Pearl Harbor.”

In another message posted on X, Mr Johnson said: “Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.

“Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945.

“Of course Zelensky’s ratings are not 4%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.”